Assimilation
by Satire Swift
Summary: What does it take to be a superhero? Powers? Circumstance? The people around you? The willingness to embrace being something other than human? Whatever it is, you'll have to pick it up. Because we all have to do it sooner or later.
1. Forward

It's been a while since I've done a Forward for one of these things, but this probably needs one, if only to let you know what this is. If you are wondering, yes, this is a Self Insert. Yes, I'm aware it's (arguably) the lowest form of fanfiction, but I did it anyway. I was feeling burned out from my other fics so I decide to do a little self indulgence... which ended up with about 100k words on Spacebattles. Anyway, I was asked to port this over here, so if you're still on board with this, please enjoy.


	2. 1-1

=====A=====

I checked my phone before I walked down the steps into the subway, couldn't get a signal down there after all, and found an email telling me that the project wasn't compiling as of last night, and they were trying to figure out what was responsible. I wasn't too worried as we had plenty of ways to revert the project to a working state, but I didn't like how close this was happening to release of the next patch. _Three days of planning, six weeks of coding, one week of testing, and to top it off the tradition twenty four hours of panic before release_ , I thought to myself as I sent a brief reply before entering the subway.

Lucky for me I was just in time to catch the train pulling into the station, and as I checked my phone one last time before I lost the signal I stepped onto the train

e̙̱͖̩ͦͩ̋v͕̜̘͖͙͍̦̏ͣͯ̋̑͐̾̇̚͡e̱͓͑̀ͨ͋̚͝r̵̟̙͎̯̲͔͐͛ͨy̢̤̱͓ͤ͛̕t͇̮̫͔ͥͧ̄̑̿̆h̾̊̋͋̋͏̵̡͉͇̞̩̮i̮̳̙̙͇̖̫̖ͬͨ̎́͋ͤ̆n̹̣̙͂͛̒ͬ̅̈͠ġ̜͓̣͙̟̙̘̰̏̇ͧͣ ̣̗̯̘̹͇͈͊͛w̟͎̙̱̖̏̔̇̑̓͢a͈͎͓͖̱͇ͤ͂ͬ̾̈́̓͐̉ͅs̸̷̡̱̪͙̞̩͓̲͛ͪͦ͒̊ ̷̗̻͌̒͐n̢͗̉́́̓̚͜҉̣̞o̵̳̼̼͈̓͌̍t̖̳̘̘̳̻̖̼̺ͨͭ̃͌̅̿̊̀h͎̜͔̿̂͡i̯̜ͩ͟ṉ̢̟̻̹͔̰ͨ́̒ͥ̇̅̽͜ĝ̸̗͚̗͉̩̻͈͎̀̑̒̆̍͜ ͥ̀҉̯̗̹̜͖̱̳̠͕̕a̴̛͉͈̣̪̓̏̊ͪ̉̀ͥ͛͢nͧ̈̒ͪ̍̽̈͏̠̝͚͘͝d̮̬͓̲͇͇͙ͫ̾͐̇ ̟̣͖̭͉͙͙͐͆ͩ̈́̓̒̄ͧ̀͡s̼̝̙̜̥̭ͦ̓t̛̰̺͉͇̝̜̠ͫ̅̄ͯ̇͋̎ͣr̦̩̈̏̃͆̅ͪ̑̄͟ę̤͎̭͖̙ͭ̍̇ͥͥͫ̓͌̕t̵̞͂͐̐̂̉̆́c̶͛̉̉҉͚͙̤͎͉̲̱ȟ̥̱̥͚͚͚̼̅͂̉̑͐i̵̝̗̦͔͈̫̳͆͗̇̊ͬ͘n͌̏ͣ̎̄̑͐̕͏̞̙̝̞̮g̛͚̮̔̑̑̉̈͠ ͧ̐ͤͦ͏͕̣͍̠ͅt̶̟͈̭̼̣̊̈́̒̾ͭo̶̩̘̒̔̾͂̍͒̈́ ͎͕̝̞̓̅̔i̋́̏ͮ͏̢̟͈̹͔̻͓̭̜̦n̲̭̬̼͇̓ͩͮ̐̋̆ͤf̝̹͙̖͍̪̟͂̃͌ͫ̾ͫ͌̑̍͘͟i͇̲̩̘ͥ͊ͩͦͤͪ̈ń̴̘̰̲̥̘̫ͨͩͦ̑ͧ͝͠i̛̤̿͛ͅtͪ͐͒͒̓̔̚͠͏̟̼̻̱͠y̹̖̺͍̹̻͚͈̖̿͗ͫ̋̿ͤ͡b̸̒̉͑ͫͦ̇͊͋͆͛̋͑́͟͏͍͙̣̹̀ë̴̢͔̙̰̠̾̈́͐̓̿̍̿̈́͂̚͢͡c̢͎͚̩̜͈͕͑͂ͣͬ̎͞ắ̷̠̮̯̮̱̪͎̳̮̳͉̘̖̖̻͚͉̓͒̂̓̽͊ͥ͗̂͢͞͝ûͦ́ͯ̉҉̹͖̼̺̙̠̫͝͝ş̼̹̣̳̳̞̥̟̣̜̲̠̯͋̇ͧͥ̋ͦ̾́ͫͯ̎͞͝ͅȩ̶̛̮͖̣̜͉͇̩̮̦̞̳͍͇͖͓̃ͯ͋̔̄̏̑ͩ̅ͥ̐̔̔͘ͅͅ ̸̢̛̼̦̲͚̺̝͙͛ͣ̋ͭͪͤ͐͛̀̇̓ͥͮ͜w̴̱͙̤̙̼͚͆͂͗͗̕͡͞ͅȩ͆̾̅ͥ̀ͨͯͣͧ͑ͥ̑̈́ͭ̀͆̓̄̚͠͏͎̜̤̹̪͇̜̮̠̝̩̪̳͈ ̶̷̹̞͈̙̪̦͍̥͎̯͕̎ͧ̈́ͪͬͪ͋͐͐ͥ̐̀̊̏ͩ̕aͥ̈́̑̃̔͟͏̲͈̩̹ļ̯͖̠͔̩̙͍͖̘̳͈̣͙̖̰͎̜̪̫́̃ͫ͛̊͝ḷ̛͖̟͚̳͚̿ͮ̋͆̓ͤͨͧͪ́͛̃ͮ̒̃ͨ̋̚̚͘͟͠ ̸̈́̊ͩ̌̅͊ͭͯ҉̵̶͚̹̟̟̮͚̰̯̝̤̫̻̪͇h̦͚̬̥̯̙̣̬̱͇͉̠̫ͩ͒ͤ͛̌ͯ͛̏͗͝ͅa̴ͣ̓̈́̎̍̕҉̮͓̣̯̦̙̟̲͇͖͇̳̗͚͇͎͔ͅv͋ͤ͐̀̔ͤ͒̓́̄͊̕͡͏͎̪̫̻̥̲̹͍͎͕̞̤̳̰̘͠͞ͅé̢̛͛̓̐̏̈́ͩͨ̓ͣ̆̀̿̍̄̓̉ͨ̚͏̩͙͎͚̯̙͇̻̼̩̮ͅ ̧͂̍ͥ̾͆ͥ̇̅̌ͣ̀͊ͬ͋̏͗ͩ̀ͮ͏̀҉̠̪̤̮͕̖͎͚̫̩̝̝̗̹̺ͅt̶̵͚̟͈͖̀ͧ̑̽ͣ̔̓͛̌͌ͩ̒͝o̸̢͚̫͕͔ͯ̓̑ͩ́͜͜ ̧̛̛̭̱̭͇̞̇ͪ͌ͦ̒̋̈́͛͂̊͌ͭͪ̊̈́̀d̓͌ͧ͌ͨ͋̓̿͆̐̿̉̾̊͗҉̧̻͇̹̰͍͇̜͓͕̗͚́͡oͥͤ̄͒ͭͦ̑ͦͦ́̽ͮ̒ͧ̒ͮ҉̝͇̜̩̞̬̠̦̮̫͖ ̎̆ͫ́͒̄ͥ͛ͤ͏̼̫̻̖̼̗̹̰͙t̴̵̤͙̹͙̣͙͓̫̙͆̏̃̔̎̐̓̍ͫ̎̋̆̑ͨ̓̕͟h̃͒̊ͨ҉̫̮͕̲̦̝̦͓͜ǐ̸̺̤͍̩͙̺̘͈̫̭̩͗̿̃͜ͅs̔̐̎ͩͫ̊͒̾͌͊ͫ͏͇̦̯̦̙̞̱̯̝̮͈̘͠ ̶̊͆̇̾ͪ̉͂̈́ͫ̈́̎ͤ̆ͣ̔̋̓̀͢҉̴̙̖͇͚̼̮̮̝̥̠s̵͗́ͩ͒͑̌͌̽͏̶̫͓̗̀o̱̠̣̯͗̓ͫ͒ͩ̂ͩ̓͟͟o̵͇̘̥̥̭͎̹̫͎͚̠̪̠̖̫͙̯̼̊̑͂̉ͫ͌̀̀́̚n̛̔̃̐͒ͦ̋ͯͫ̋̑̎́̑̊ͪ́̀̄̚͜͝҉͉̣͓̙̪͔͝ȩ̩̘͍̹͖̺̋͂̈́̌̔̐̎̌̊̉̓̒ͯ̄r̨̛̖͖̹̰̼͕̺̣͎̟̥̹̬̻̤̜͆̃ͨͪ͗̂ͭ̔͋ͮ͑ͣ̄ͣ̀́͡͠ͅͅ ̷̡̛̛̟̘̮͕̤̲̱̹̥̺̮̳̳̳̘̬̥̉̒̇̔̌͛̂̃̅̒ͥ́o̵̶̫̤̗͙͇̖̥͌ͩ̎̋ͣ̂̆̒̓ͯͩ̾̂ͥͨ͗ͭ̚͘͜͢r̶̡͓̙̥̠̺͙̞ͤ͑̓̌̉̇̋ͦ͘ ̈ͮ̄͐̓͒̚͏̸̝͕͕̦̠̝̤͈͍̻̘̺̥͖̭̳̰̝͟ͅľ̵̹̺̻̝̪̿̄̏ͩ̿̀̕a̋́̎́̑ͮ͑͂̈̈́̆̾̇̓͗ͭ͡҉̸̙̼͚̺̪͕͞t̷̸̡̛͈̦̫̳̔̅͗͆̕ẻͦ̊̂̓̅͂͛͐̉̏̍̓ͧ҉̸̸̞̼̳̳̳͍̠̫̙̩̭̦͇̱̟ͅr̸̸͓̙̜̜̝̫̊̆ͧ̿̓̈́̈́ͣ͐̒̚͜

Ț̯ͮ͐u̷̝̼̭̲̮̬̘r͚̻͚̤͛ͣ̈́ͫ̀͠nͤ̀̄̇e̫ͥ͋ͭ̓ͧͯ͡d͌̓ͮͧ͟ ͗̓̓̚͏̙ả̈̇̚t̲͎̞̥̥̓̋͛ ̣̰̦͊ͣ͛ȁ̠͖̼̘͚̜ͯ̚͞ ̣̳͈̙ͬ͝r͓̣̪̗ͅĭ̽͋͐̒̏̽҉̦̣̭̟͚̪g̭̹͔̙̬̘͎̔̂̌̂͂͋ͫ̀h̒̅t̰ͥ ̗̙͓̫͇͇ͮͅȃ͕̖̹̞̼̻͂ͨ͝n̗͇̹͇̺̞̕g̷̱̥͂ͦ͗l͕̯ͭe͉̟͓̙͉ ͫͭtͯ̇͌̊̀ͫ͏̦̞̯o̩͑͆ͣ̀̈́̔̀ ̶̙̩̖͙̅͊̆ͯe̲̠̙̺͉̣̐͒ͩͮͭͫv̦̜̦̯͙̈́ͨ̆͊̆͗ͅḛ̭ͩr͚̟̖͚̫̒ͅỵ̰̩̥͉ͪt̜̹̯͠h̘͈͕̽͗̿́i̠͚̼ͧͪ̇̌ͥn͓͈͉̄̐͛̓̅ͤ̋͡g̠̣̹̞͎̣̘͌́̽ metal table hard and cold against my back as my limbs refused to… wait, what?

I gave a start (or tried to) as I suddenly realized that I was not on the subway. What tipped me off was how subways didn't put their passengers on hard metal slabs looking up at incredibly bright lights that made it impossible to see anything else. "W-what? What the fuck? Where am I? Why can't I move?!" I shouted as my head whipped side to side as I tried to see something, anything to help me figure out what had happened. Try as my might there was hole in my memory, and the last thing I remember was getting on the subway for work.

 _Was there an accident? An attack? Am I in a hospital?_ I thought before I felt a sudden pit of dread in my stomach. _Oh god, is that why I can't move?! Am I paralyzed?!_

There was movement in the corner of my vision, and I turned my head hoping it was someone who could help me. But whatever I was going to say next died in my throat at what I saw.

What stepped out of the darkness into my vision wasn't human. Humanoid perhaps, but the word _reptilian_ was the first thing that came to mind. The head reminded me of some kind of dinosaur with an expanded skull in the back, and the way it tilted its head as it look at me was birdlike. Green scales covered it where I could see it's body, but most it's body was covered by some kind of jumpsuit. It was a little shorter than me if I had to guess, and the stilted way it moved along with the shape of its legs and arms made it clear that it wasn't built in the same manner as a human.

My response to such a sight was as eloquent as it was insightful. "Oh what the fuck."

The… thing let out a series of hisses and growls which I think was it speaking, but I couldn't understand it. Granted I don't think I would have understood it if it was speaking English because _holy shit lizard people were real_. My thoughts completely froze up at that. In all of my craziest thoughts about what secret conspiracies might have littered the world, I never would have guessed that one would be true.

I snapped out of my mini-fugue as the lizard thing gestured and a small drone of some sort floated out from behind him. It was, almost comically, shaped like a small flying saucer, and it had something clutched beneath it in a claw like appendage. I couldn't get a good look at it, but it was about the size of my fist and looked chitinous, it's dull grey color non-reflective. The drone floated over to me and promptly opened its claw, dropping the object onto my chest.

I had only about a second to tilt my head and look at the insectile thing before it suddenly deployed its small sharp legs into my chest.

My first scream was more out of shock than pain, but the following screams came shortly after when I felt the thing start to burrow and expand through my torso. Even as I screamed though I could see the grey material start to spread across my chest, and as I saw my body start to soften and dissolve I realized that it was _consuming me_.

And I could feel every painful inch as it worked its way up to my head. I… oh god no. I don't want this! I DON"T WANT-!

* * *

It was dark, silent, and everything felt wrong.

It was complete bullshit is what it was.

It took me a while to realize that I wasn't dreaming. It can be hard to tell when you suddenly find yourself blind and… paralyzed? Insensate? Point is I had this weird tingling sensation where my body was supposed to be, and all I had were memories of what had just happened to me, which featured pain, terror and I giant pile of I have no fucking clue. I tried to calm down by focusing on breathing… except I couldn't breathe. That made it worse and should have caused my heart to start hammering in my chest… except I couldn't feel my heartbeat. _Of fucking course_.

One might be a little confused at my response to the cascade of utter horseshit that I was experiencing, rather than the pants-shitting terror that would be reasonable. Well, aside from the not knowing if I was even wearing pants, a descent into cursing was how I typical dealt with things going tits up in my life, even if it only was internal. Honestly, I wasn't usually like this, but it made me feel a lot better than falling into despair and terror. And hey, a recent study showed that in addition to boosting your tolerance for pain, cursing also increased your resistance to horrify existential dread too. I mean, it was a sample size of one, but I was willing to believe it.

In any case, I'm not sure how long I spent like that, panicking over and/or mentally swearing at being in a disembodied nightmare I couldn't wake up from. However, I'm good at adapting, and eventually I managed to force myself to calm down. I forced all of my fears and my uncertainty down into my mental vault, which I was sure wouldn't cause me any physiological issues later. Before I could figure out what was going on, I needed to pull myself together, get my body back under control, or just get feeling back. Not that I knew how to do that. For all I knew I was in some kind of coma or… no, not going to think about that. Have to assume that's not the case. So, lacking any other type of direction, I fell back on pop culture.

 _Wiggle your big toe._

And after a few seconds of trying… it worked. I think. I could feel the big toe of my right foot. It didn't feel quite right, but it was fine for the moment. Encouraged by this, I started to work my way up. My other toes, my ankles, my legs… sooner than I would have thought I was moving, even if I was still blind. I tried to push myself to my feet-

And I immediately fell onto all fours, fingers and toes digging sharply into the floor. I remained still for a long moment, the positon feeling… strangely comfortable. I slowly tried to stand again and again lost my balance before I could get fully straight. I twisted as I fell and I landed on my hands and feet with surprising grace. After a moment I started to suspect something I started to pat down my body. My sense of touch was muted, but it didn't take long to figure out why. Almost everywhere I touched my body was hard and plated, with several ridges popping up in strange places. My torso was inhumanly proportioned and too narrow. My arms were spindly and ended in claws, my legs were digitigrade, and my head was elongated and completely smooth save for a maw of razor sharp teeth.

And as a long ridged tail swept between my legs, I found I was missing something.

The fact that I couldn't even curse due to a lack of proper lips or tongue made this such complete bullshit.

* * *

Eventually, I calmed back down. Mostly because I had nothing else to do. Once I got moving I quickly discovered I was trapped in a small rectangular room, which seemed to be made entirely out of metal or something close to it. Even after stumbling around till I found a door didn't help, as no matter how much I clawed at the thing I could barely scratch it. I was so frustrated at my own powerlessness that it drove me up the walls.

Literally.

 _Well, I guess there's a bit of a silver lining to this_ , I thought bleakly as I sat on the ceiling, my claws somehow finding enough purchase on the smooth metal to let me remain where I was. _Of course I would have preferred the radioactive spider_.

I let out a hissing sigh, enjoying what little I could from the act. I didn't understand how this was possible. Lizard people were one thing, but a full body transformation into…

 _Ok, let's review_ , I thought as I released my grip and fell to the ground, landing deftly on my hands and feet as I did so. It was only about a twelve foot drop to the ground, and even in my blinded state I could sense when to brace for impact . _On my way to work, I was apparently abducted by lizard people, who deiced to experiment on me using some… thing, which in turn fused into and/or consumed my body. Later I wake up and find that said body is now, if my impression is correct, a xenomorph knock off_. I moved slowly as I once again tried to stand on two feet, this time attempting to use my tail to properly balance myself. The sharp point on the end twitched erratically as I fought to get it under control. Wish the damn thing came with a manual for how hard it was to control.

Which actually made sense, oddly enough. My brain was not wired for a prehensile tail, so it was a miracle that I could use the thing at all. Then again, I suppose it was a miracle that my mind was still relatively intact, let alone alive. I still couldn't feel my heart beat, and most of the other tiny sensations inherent a in a human body that you just kind of tune out were now so very obvious in their absence. In their place was… tingling wasn't quite the right word. When I focused on my new body, it was almost as if chittering were somehow tactile, for all the sense that made. Vibrating in anticipation, like it was waiting for something.

 _Yeah, well I'm waiting for some goddamn eyeballs_ , I thought sullenly. The reason I was blind was that I quite simply didn't have eyes anymore, just a smooth carapace where they should have been. And yet there were times where I swore I could see fragments of things for the briefest moments, a faint outline or impression. I let out an irritated growl with as much force I could muster, satisfied by the noise but surprised by the sudden, odd constriction of muscles I didn't know I had.

Suddenly I had a sort of mental snap, and with the sudden sensation of my mind crossing its eyes I saw the room in a burst. Not an image per se, but I perceived the entire room as an impression of surfaces and corners, the impression of angles and distances in a way I never had before.

And in an instant it was gone again and I was back in darkness. I remained still for a moment before a flexed those unknown muscles in my throat in the same way, and again the image popped into my head. _Ultrasound_ , I realized. _I can 'see' ultrasound. That explains a lot_.

I spent what I think was the following hour pacing about my cell, getting used to my new 'sight' and balance. Not that it helped my current situation much, as I was still locked in god damn box. _Why_ , I thought as I moved restlessly. _Why would they do this me? What do they gain out of it? Is this what they wanted to happen?_ At the least, I couldn't have been a total failure considering that I was still alive, but what more did those who I assumed were my captors want? If they planned to turn me into some kind of living weapon they hadn't done a great job of endearing me to that prospect. You'd think that they would have fit me with a sort of control collar at least.

I stopped in my tracks as a thought occurred to me, and I started to pat down my body once again. Nothing said that a control mechanism had to be a literal collar, and I honestly wasn't sure which parts of my body were actually my own. Unfortunately, with my sense of touch so altered just feeling around didn't help much in that regard. I focused on myself as hard as I could, trying to feel every odd sensation that-

Suddenly that 'chittering' sensation grew, and I got a very acute mental picture of what my body was shaped like. I also noticed four spherical objects lodged in my chest which I somehow knew were not a part of me. I tried to push through the disorientation of have yet another mind bending perception forced onto me and tried to analyze said objects best I could. If only I could somehow pull them out…

Slowly, as if by instinct, I felt the carapace of my chest start to fold and shift, and my internals started to follow suit.

What the hell?

Before I could think too much about that though, there was sudden reaction from the spheres and AARRRGH!

I screamed as electricity arched from my body, and I fell to the ground in a twitching heap. As the pain ripped through me I felt everything go fuzzy and dark, like I was slipping back into where I was before. _No. No! I won't go back to that!_ I mentally screamed as I forced myself to stay conscious, to keep myself together. Moments later the electricity cut of and I was able get my senses back. And when I did, I noticed something.

I had, just a little bit, _melted_. I was like a wax figure that had been left out in the sun a little too long, and I saw droplets of material start to slide off me to the floor. Before I could panic though I saw those little bits of myself slow to a stop before they melded right back into my body.

That… was informative in a number of ways.

Before I could reflect on that much though, the door to my cell suddenly snapped open, and I felt myself being dragged forward by an unseen force. I tried to resist, but I hadn't recovered from my previous ordeal and my body twitched uselessly. Moments later I found myself dragged onto a small hovering platform, and I felt the air snap and charge around me.

I finally managed to pull myself up on my haunches and take a look around with what I had decided to call my 'blindsight'. I was now in a hallway about five meters across where the walls and ceiling bulged outwards, like I was in a large tube. Aside from a few curves and outlets there were a number of doors lining the walls in both directions, most likely more cells. I didn't have long to look at them before the platform I was on started to move, and I noticed a pair of lizard people fall in step beside it. Although I suspected what would happen, I reached out towards one of them only for an electric jolt to force my arm back as it reached the edge of the circular platform. Forcefield. One of them let out something that I think was a laugh before spouted off some more noises.

I didn't know what it said, but I was sure it was being a dick.

I shook out my hand as I studied my surroundings. Just where the hell _was_ I? This had to be a base of some kind, but how the hell did I get from the city to here? Was it underneath the city? I mean, there was the other possibly, the slightly more obvious one some people would say, that I probably wasn't on Earth any more… but I honestly wasn't sure if that was more plausible than underground technologically advanced reptiles. Personally I hoped it was the latter, because the former implied terrible things about my chances of seeing home again.

I let out a breath to dismiss such thoughts, instead think back to what I had just learned back in my cell. _I think_ , I thought to myself as the glorified cart hovered down the hallway, _that I'm now made of some sort of shapeshifting material. Maybe._

It made a degree of sense given how I just saw myself nearly come apart. And… what if when I couldn't move before it wasn't because my limbs were paralyzed, but because I didn't actually _have_ any at the time. The last thing I remembered before that was being dissolved by that grey thing, after all. It was entirely possible I was rendered a puddle of goo after that interaction. Which meant, if I could pull myself together from that into my current form, there was a good chance that I could turn back into something at least close to human.

Now if I could only figure out how. At the risk of being tazed again, I focused on what my human body should look like and… nothing happen. I focused harder, but I remained stubbornly unchanged. I grunted in annoyance before I decided to narrow my scope and just focus on the shape of my head. After a few seconds of concentration my skull started to slowly constrict and become more round. Encouraged by this, I started to imagine my eye sockets and felt two impressions start to form on my face.

However, I stopped almost as soon as I started as one of my escorts let out an angry sounding growl as it turned to face me. I went still as it stared at me for a few moments before it was satisfied and turned back to face forward.

 _For later then,_ I thought, though there was something bitter in it. I had a feeling that there was a lot I was missing about just what my new body was and how it worked, and I wasn't sure if I would get the chance. Especial since even as I started to consider the ways I could test this I found the cart reaching the end of a hallway and hovered through and open door, my guards stopping before they entered themselves.

The new room was very large, or at least I assumed it was as my blindsight failed to show me any walls beyond the slightly curving one at my back that faded into my personal darkness. In front of me looked to be a number of large blocky shapes, forming walls, ramps, pillars, and all manner of things I would generally call obstacles. To be honest it reminded me of a laser tag arena. Or a Halo multiplayer map.

That thought filled me with an abrupt sense of trepidation, which was not helped when the door behind me slammed shut and the force field around me suddenly dropped. Of course, the inhuman roar from a short distance away that followed was just drove the point home. I quickly got on my fours and darted towards the nearest structure, hoping to get cover from whatever had made that noise. For better or worse it wasn't long before I found out. Crashing though one of the pillars nearby was… something. It was about the size of a huge bear that was heavy and broader on the front even as it moved on all fours. It reminded me a bit of a bulldog, though its head was triangular and had forwards pointed horns. Oh, and the whole thing was covered in rigid armor plates, because apparently fate decided that I hadn't been kicked in my non-existent nuts quite enough.

The thing paused after this destruction for a brief moment before its head twitched and it let out another roar, giving me a great view of how its mouth opened along to perpendicular seams. It then swung its head around towards me before it charged. I let out something like a screech before I spun and scrambled up the side of the wall I was next to in a desperate bid to get away from the thing. I managed to get to the top of the wall just before the creature slammed into it, smashing a gaping hole clean through.

I stared down at the thing as it started to turn, perched precariously on the unstable wall. _This is a combat test_ , I thought to myself. _They made me into a weapon and now they want see how well I perform. And I'm guessing failure is the sort of thing they would learn from and I… wouldn't_. So that meant that if I wanted to lived, I was probably going to have to kill this thing. Which to be honest… I didn't really care to do. Screw Shinji Ikari, I'll run away all I damn well please.

But that wasn't an option here, as I was pretty sure I was trapped in here with the thing. And so, without any clever third options coming to mind, I pounced off the wall the moment before the creature slammed into it, landing deftly on the ground before I instantly turned and bolted at the thing. It started to turn but before it could completely face me I was already on it, leaping up onto its back and trying to sink my claws into it. It didn't really work though, as its armor plates merely scratched a little at the contact.

 _Why the hell do I even have these things?!_ I thought to myself as the – you know what, I'm just going to start calling it a bearasaur – the bearasaur started to buck to try and remove me. I managed to catch a glimpse of something strange about the plates near the base of its neck before it simply rolled over, and I was forced to leap off. Abandoning that idea, I ducked back in and tried to strike at its legs, at its joints where it was less protected. Unfortunately, even though I was faster and quicker than the thing, the creature was much better at fighting on all fours than I was. The result was less a skillful series of hit and run strikes as it was me frantically slashing and dodging out of the way. Such as it was, it wasn't long before the thing landed a crushing blow on me.

Everything distorted as I tumbled through the air, and I skipped a few times off the ground before I crashed into a pillar with such force that I left a dent. I… didn't feel a lot of pain though, something which caught me off guard. That impact should have crushed every bone in my body… wait, did I even have bones anymore? I really needed to figure this out at some point. And it wasn't that moment, because before I could even get back up the bearasuar was on top of me, boxing me in and trying to tear me to bits. I screamed as I slashed back at it but I could never land a solid hit in, the creature always moving to block with its armor or horns.

I started to feel panic as the sensation of my body grew fuzzier with every hit. This wasn't working! Even as I managed to pull and arm back to simply shove or punch the damn thing, I knew it wouldn't work! I needed something else, something stronger, something harder-!

As I cocked my fist back I felt my fingers fuse together and harden. My arm and part of my chest suddenly grew in size, and with a scream I hammered my fist into the side of its head. The bearasaur stumbled and I awkwardly rolled to my feet. I cast a glance at my modified limb before I looked at my other one. A second and a bit of effort later the two matched, and I hunched forward from new weight.

…Screw it, I'm rolling with it.

This time when I stuck at the thing, it's plates cracked and shattered under the force of my strikes. The thing roared in pain and hit back, but I could take it. Cuts mended themselves, dents popped back out, and I was started to get too damned pissed to care about what modicum of pain it was causing me. Soon enough I got lucky and crushed its forward right knee, which caused it to collapse just a bit. Following a hunch, it was enough for me to bring my fist down onto its neck, crushing the plates that had looked odd to me. When I pulled my limb back I saw why: there had been something embedded underneath it, a box with odd protrusions that clearly marked it as artificial. Without hesitating I shifted my limb back into a claw and drove it into the device.

The bearasaur thrashed and roared, but as soon as it started it stopped, collapsing fully in a heap. As I pulled my hand back I found it covered in bits of metal and flesh, and I paused as I tried to process what just happened. I had just killed something, and… I felt nothing. I knew it was fighting for my life, that it was a monster-

Or was it? I mean, I looked pretty monstrous at the moment, and it clearly had some kind of control mechanism, much like the ones in my chest. _Have…_ I thought with a pit of dread forming in my abdomen, _Have I just killed another test subject? Another human?_ Oh look, there was the feeling of horror and remorse. I absent mindedly looked at my hand, but I froze when I saw (and felt) the bits of tissue and machinery meld into my flesh and disappear.

What?

Before I could think on that further though, I heard sounds of combat coming from some distance away, roars and screams and the like. I let out a sigh before I reverted back to all fours and carefully made my way towards it. As much as I wanted time to process everything that had just happened (and just stay away in general) I couldn't afford to not know what was going on. Just… push it down for now.

I quickly skirted around several crate sized blocks as I tried to get closer to the source of the noise. From the sound of it there were several different combatants from the various screeches, roars, and other sounds I couldn't quite place. I almost reconsidered entirely before I heard an odd yell out, having caught it for how… normal it sounded. I crept closer and peeked my head around a corner towards an open space, though I had to wait a moment for my blindsight to adjust to the acoustics. As I finally got a clear picture of what I was looking at, I froze.

It was a woman. A perfectly normal human woman, with long length of hair trailing down her back. Another test subject. Though it seemed while I wasn't the only person they abducted, at least one of us got off lightly in the body modification department. Hell, considering the way she grabbed a horned beast with one hand and hurled it a full ten meters before it ploughed into a ramp with a sickening crunch, I would say that she got a much better package than mine. In one hand she wielded something like an oversized machete (which given the odd, bone like shape of its handle I suspected was torn out of another creature) which she used to hack into a wolf like beast charging her.

As she was focusing on that though, I noticed that something was creeping up behind her, a massive centipede creature rearing its pincers back to take off her head. I didn't think about it or hesitate before I launched out of cover, clearing the distance in a blink before I slammed into the thing. It was much less armored than the previous abomination I fought, so my claws found purchase to sink into as we tumbled. It snapped and hissed at me, but I quickly identified a metallic device attached to the underside of its head before I brought my tail around pierced it straight up through it.

By the time we skidded to a stop the thing was still. I _really_ hopped that I was wrong and these things weren't other victims, because otherwise I had killed another person on the basis that they looked freakier than the person they were attacking. I had no context for the current situation, no idea if the woman attacked them all first or the other way around. But I didn't have time to think about it, so all I could do was trust my instincts and hope I wasn't wrong. As I rose I noticed that the woman had turned her attention towards me, her stance aggressive though she remained where she was.

I turned my head back towards her. Not to look at her, as I was becoming increasingly aware my blindsight didn't care about the facing of my head, but to give her a simple nod before I leap at the wolf thing that was coming back for another pass. I didn't know if she got the message that I had her back, but I had to hope that she did and wouldn't take the chance to stab me in mine.

I clipped wolf thing and knocked it off its charge, noticing its six legs and smooth skin as I tried to rake into its flesh. We both skidded to a stop before we charged again, darting at each before breaking away again and again. I could only land glancing blows due to its skin, but the hexawolf couldn't penetrant the harder parts of my carapace at all. After a few exchanges it was clear that I had the advantage, and the creature started to slow as it lost more blood. It hesitated for a moment before another pass before it juked hard and ran, running out of my sight.

I decided to let the thing go, as there were still two more which the woman was currently dealing with. One looked to be an oversized boar-thing she was current shoving back and the other… wait, where did the other SHIT!

I remembered that my blindsight could see all around me just in time to avoid getting slammed by the multi-armed ape creature that had crept up behind me while I was distracted. Its limbs were thin and long, and at each of the elbows of its two arms they spilt into two forearms. It growled at me as I stumbled back up onto my hind legs, and was caught by surprise as I felt my back hit something. I looked back to see the woman looking over her back at me, and she gave me a brief nod before she turned back to her own opponent as it was getting up. Back to back as we were, I suddenly felt myself wonder how the hell I ended up here, abducted and in some kind of death pit fighting against abominations with a woman I had just met.

Eh, still better than my last date.

I didn't get a chance to think about it more before ape moved in towards me, and I charged it in kind. I went to slash at it but the thing bent at a weird angle to duck out of the way before it grabbed my wrist. I tried to pull away but it quickly snatched my other wrist before pining down my tail with its foot. It then constricted the rest of it limbs around me even as I snapped my teeth at the collar around its neck. I could feel my body compress and creak as it showed surprising strength for such thin limbs, and the sensation of muted pain started to build.

I wasn't having any of that. I had no idea what I was doing, but I figured _the hell with it_ and focused on that chittering sensation, imagining the back of a hedgehog. Spikes erupted all over my body, piercing though the ape creature's limbs as it shrieked in surprise and pain. It let go of me but I stepped in even as it started to stumble back. A vicious sickle blade grew from my arm as I speared my hand into its collar and straight through to its neck, riding it to the ground as I did so.

Before I knew it I was done, and I pulled myself upright as some of the gore slid off of my hand (the rest, along with the remnants of the collar, being absorbed into it). I turned to look at my impromptu ally to find her leaning against the wall, a disembowel boar creature next to her. Her posture was tense and her breathing heavy as she stared at me. I didn't have enough skill with my ultrasound to make out the finer details of her face, but it was easy to tell that she was wary. Everything else in here had tried to kill her without a second thought, so what made me different? And more importantly, could she trust me now that we were the only ones left?

In that moment, I knew I had to convince her. To be honest I had not even given thought of escape until that very instant, instead having focused on trying to figure out what the fuck was going on, but I knew that I would need her if I wanted to get out of here. I needed an ally, someone I could trust in this insane place. Our jailers had to be watching, and I wouldn't have much time. But how hell could I get her to trust me when I couldn't speak and looked like a nightmare?

I only hesitated a moment longer before I stood up as straight as I could and started to shift my head, picking up where I had left off. It was risky, but our captors had allowed me to shapeshift earlier a little, so I was willing to bet they would let me now if they thought I was getting ready to attack her. And indeed that was what she thought as well, as she raised her blade in a guard position as my features started to change. But I wasn't trying to make myself more threatening. Just the opposite.

My head finished becoming more human like, and a proper brow form above my newly forming eye sockets. I didn't bother trying to make actual eyes, just orbs covered in such a way to look like eyes. The flesh around my mouth softened and segmented, forming into something not quite scales and not quite shell but something in between, enough that I could get some rudimentary lips. In my throat was where the more complicated modifications occurred, as I frantically guessed at the proper structure of human vocal cords.

"Hhhhhaarrrch-" A managed to say as I tried to work my new mouth, shifting things around in my throat as I flattened my tongue and teeth. Her grip tightened on her blade as I tried again. "Hhhll. Hllaaa. Hhaaaallpp."

I took a breath and put my hand to my chest. "Hhalpp…. mmme." I strained out. I extended my hand to her, both my stand and my hand open. "Hhalp… mme."

There was a long moment where she did nothing, and I waited to see if she was going take my head off. Then finally she relaxed, and her sword fell down by her side.

I didn't have long to enjoy it though, as the moment she took a step toward me electricity surged through my body and I was on the ground in pain. The woman shouted something, but I could only just make out drones moving in and restraining her before everything went black.

* * *

They left me in my cell for long time after that, and I finally had some time to think, not that it did me that much good. I had already figured that the lizard people had enrolled me in a sort of living weapons program, but I still couldn't figure out the end goal. I wasn't exactly planning on being cooperative, so how were they planning on controlling me? And for that matter, who were they planning on fighting? Was there an impending war with the surface world? Ugh, I didn't have enough information. And considering I didn't really want to think about all those monsters/maybe people I killed, I fell back on the other thing I really wanted to try out: Shapeshifting.

And I quickly found out that it was bloody difficult. Or at least, it's hard when you aren't making weapons and have to do everything manually. That was what I had figured out after what I think was day or two of personal testing. I had been wary to experiment of my own after the first time, but a few tentative attempts resulted in no electric shocks. I suspected they wanted to see what I could do as much as I did, and would only punish me if I tried to tamper with what I had dubbed the control orbs. So, I spent most of my time seeing just what the hell I could do. And the answer was 'not nearly as much as I felt I should have'.

One of the first things I tried to do was resume my efforts to change into at least something close to human, but I was met with only mild success. I managed to get my legs back to plantigrade, and my proportions slightly more human like, but my face… Imagine that you need to sculpt a human face out of clay. Now imagine that you have no art training, and have to do it in a pitch black room by touch. Now imagine that your hands have been replaced with calloused walrus flippers. That was what it was like trying to manually shape my flesh. Worse still was how long it had taken me to change; though I could alter every part of my body at the same time with no extra effort so long as I wasn't too specific on the details, getting even close to human had taken hours.

And oddly enough, I could change back to 'xenomorph' in a few seconds no matter what. In addition to that, anything else I tried to shape (simple things like blades, bludgeons, even simple geometric shapes), all naturally formed with Giger-esque aesthetics, with ridges and organic curves wherever possible. It seemed that my body wanted to shape anything it turned into along a certain theme… and things like the finer details of the human form were outside of that.

Which wasn't great when it came to making the orbs in my head actual eyeballs. Though to be fair a lot of that might have been because I had only a vague idea how eyes were structured. It was a small mercy that I had somehow managed to get them photosensitive from just randomly trying things. Which was a bit suspicious in and of itself. I thought back to the fight earlier, when those bits of flesh and tech were absorbed into me. I wasn't certain… but it seemed to imply…

Well, at least when the time came, it gave me an idea of what to do with those control orbs.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I felt a sudden tremor, followed a split second later by the sound of an explosion. I tensed and waited, and soon after that I heard what could only be alarm sirens. _Hmm, I guess one of their experiments didn't go quite as planed?_ I thought with a vicious grin (which made me feel better for the simple fact that I could do it). If I was going to break out, now the best time to try… but I still had to get out of my stupid cell.

And unfortunately, even with my newfound transforming skills, I was just as successful as last time. No matter how much I slashed, smashed, or stabbed at the door, the damn thing didn't budge. I was starting to consider trying even more exotic configurations before I heard something through the door. It was faint, but I swore I could hear shouting, impacts, and a few other things I couldn't identify.

There was a moment of silence before a massive impact dented the door inwards. A second one followed it and it bent even more. I managed to duck to the side of the cell before the third one hit and the metal slab flew into the room. And standing right in the doorway was the woman from before, her first extended, breathing heavily and looking incredibly pissed.

I had no idea how she managed to get free or find my cell, but I was not arguing with the miracle. I walked towards her and nodded. "Thank you. I hope you know how to get us out of here." I said, glad I had spent so much time making sure my voice worked. Now we could actually talk to each other.

"Cor nock toresh nal voerkeni saul." She replied.

That… was very unhelpful. And what even was it? Mongolian? Klingon? Well, looked like we'd have to stage a breakout from the lizard base using nothing but pantomime. I gave her the 'lead on' gesture and she did so, sprinting after her as she tore down the corridor. Although I might have been faster if I switched back to my quadruped form, felt far more comfortable just running with human-ish legs again, and I had a feeling that I would need every advantage I could get if I wanted to get out of here. Judging by the number of alarms going off, I had a suspicion that escape wasn't going to be easy.

And sure enough, after the woman led me through a number of corridors we turned a corner and almost ran straight into a group of lizard people. There were five of them in total, and each was carrying a sort of strange thin rifle, with multiple barrels and prongs sticking off of it. I had no idea what those things did, but I was sure I didn't want to find out first hand. I dove to the side to take cover in a doorway as one started to level their weapon at me, and while I didn't see anything happen I heard a loud hum and the air next to me suddenly spiked in temperature. _Laser_ , I guessed. _Going to be really annoying considering I can't 'see' them_.

My companion did not immediately take cover, and instead raised her hand towards them. My blindsight did manage to see what happened next, as the space around her hand seemed to ripple in my vision before several bolts of something streaked towards our captors. Most of the reptiles managed to scramble out of the way, but one was too slow and took several shots which detonated on contact. With all of the noise it was hard to pick out any details but I knew that it wasn't going to be getting back up.

I briefly turned my attention to the woman as I wondered why she hadn't shown that ability the last time we met, before I refocused on our opponents and charged out of cover, trying to close the distance before they realized it. There was no way I was going to just hide and let my savoir only risk herself after she had already freed me. It was a risk, but I had no ranged options, so melee it was. Unfortunately, I got just shy of striking range of one before it let out a hiss and tapped a button on a device attached to its arm.

Once again I felt electricity rip through me from the control orbs in my chest, and I stumbled as I felt myself lose cohesion. Part of me had been waiting for this to happen ever since I stepped outside my cell though, and I prayed that I had acquired enough skill shapeshifting to do what I was thinking. Forcing down all the pain, I turned my attention inwards and imagined spikes. An instant later the orbs were speared through with whatever material my body was made out of, and the electricity was cut off.

Though I didn't want to, I couldn't help but fall to my knees as something unexpected happen. I felt my internal spikes suddenly branch and grow inside the implanted devices, tearing them apart from the inside out, and as they did so I felt something in the back of my mind. When I looked up and saw one of the reptiles standing over me a rush of need and instinct caused my forearms to expand as I felt new, complicated structures form inside them. My claws lengthened, and as the transformation finished electricity began to arc between my fingers.

Didn't know I could do that.

I stared at this for a moment I before turned my attention upwards without raising my head, perceiving that the reptile next to me was frozen in fascination at this. Big mistake. The moment the thing started to open its mouth I shot upwards, driving my newly formed Lightning Claw into its mouth and straight into its brain.

The thing's body spasmed as I whirled it around to put it between me and the others, just in time to it catch a laser blast in my stead. I reached down to grab the rile still clenched in its fist, and on a hunch I tried to replicate what I had just accomplished. Sure enough my hand twisted and unfolded into branching spikes that consumed all but the forward third of the weapon. My arm shifted to accommodate, and a second later I was doing a Samus Arin impression. I lifted the weapon towards one of them and willed it to fire, and though I didn't see anything the one I pointed it at clutched at the sudden hole in its chest before it collapsed.

The remaining two tried to rally, but my ally was already on them, and a few brutal blows later they down as well. I finished consuming the gun before my hand shifted back to normal, and I could only give the bodies a glance before we were on the move again. I… had definitely just killed two sapient beings. I knew I was going to have to deal with that later (and wasn't that becoming the theme of my life as of late), but we needed to escape first.

It wasn't long before we came to a much bigger set of doors than the ones we had been passing before. The woman stopped in front of them and raised her hands, another series of bolts rippling in my vision before they exploded against the metal. However, it didn't seem terribly affected by it. She roared as her fists smashed into the door, but it was a lot sturdier than the one to my cell. After a few more tries I held out my hand to get her to stop, and after a few moments I identified what I thought was a control panel next to it.

Without pause I stabbed my hand into it and deploy my spikes. There was a second or two I was worried that I had overestimated my new abilities before a new presence made itself aware in my mind. It was… difficult to understand. I got the impression of systems, complexity, but it was presented in a way that was alien to me. It was like having someone tap on your arm in different beats with different materials and different rhythms; you could recognize that there was a langue at play, but you had never even considered that paradigm.

Still, I pushed deeper and deeper, trying to understand as much as possible even if I had to damage it more and more to do so. Just before I started to wonder if I had gone too far I felt the same sort of mental revelation you get when you finally get a magic eye picture to work and everything aligned. One mental command later the door opened, revealing a wide room with a number of consoles lining the walls, and several lizard men looking at us in surprise.

The woman strode into the room, her hands rippling in my sight as she extended them towards them. "Kreshik mor t'alc! Vaashen!"

I walked up beside her, Lighting Claws raised. "And we out of fucks to give!"

What? It wasn't like they could understand me either.

As it turned out, these particular goons were not security forces like the ones previous. And they quickly fled from our presence as fast as their lopping gait would allow. After they were gone the woman walked to a console on the far end of the room, pressing buttons and tapping at panels. I had no idea what she as doing, not in the least of which because my blindsight couldn't see what I assumed were the screens and holograms she was looking at. However, she wasn't at it for long before she let out a grunt of frustration and stepped back before looking at me. "Telos dor?" She said as she pointed at the console.

Understanding the request, I walked forward and placed my hand on the device, this time melding my hand with it much more smoothly as I tried to limit the amount of damage I caused. Whether or not that helped though, I found myself reeling slightly as my mind connected. I had thought the door was complicated, but this was a whole order of magnitude more complicated. I felt the beginnings of a headache as I was bombarded with information, sensations, ideas that I could barely parse. I was looking at a puzzle that I could barely understand, let alone solve.

"Shen? Mela orthos?" The woman next to me asked.

"Hey, this is actually a lot more complicated than it looks, ok?" I said back.

"Torack mel. Toresh na relma!"

"Yeah, well I'm pretty sure these lizard folk had no idea what they were doing to me either, so were all flying blind!"

I could tell from her stance that she was frustrated, that she wanted to get out of here now. She looked between me and the door, and a small bit of fear ran through me. Would she just leave me? At that moment I expected that she would either do just that or start yelling at me more in a language I couldn't understand.

What I didn't expect however was for her to suddenly grab the back of my head and mash her lips against my own.

I froze, all of the thoughts and processes running through my mind suddenly coming to a halt at the contact. I felt something ripple through me from the point of contact, like an imagined electric jolt running though my body. And perhaps the sensation shook something loose in me, because after I felt a moment of light headedness, the blurriness in my vision resolved and sharpened. And the first thing my new eyes saw was my savoir as she pulled back from me.

Her face was one of classical beauty, gorgeous and framed by her hair, but that was almost secondary to everything else I noticed in that instant. Her skin was a burnt orange hue, and her hair was far more red than any normal shade. And the eyes that stared so fiercely back into mine were an almost solid emerald green, with only the iris showing a slightly deeper color. More than anything else though, as impossible as it was that she could even be real… I knew who she was.

"Take control of the security if you can, and try to make your escape. I must go back to save my sister." Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran said as she rose into the air, her hair trailing off into fire around her as she pulled away. A second later she shot off back through the door we came from and disappeared out of sight.

What.

=====A=====


	3. 1-2

=====A=====

NO, SERIOUSLY, WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK?!

I… no, no, not the time. Escape first, complete existential break down later.

I shook my head and blinked as I took in the control room with my new eyes for the first time. The color scheme was a garish combination of black, yellow and green, with a hexagonal tile pattern marking the walls. The various consoles lining the room were lit up with holographic symbols and interfaces that all meant nothing to me. I let out a grunt before I turned my head back around towards my own console and-

I went completely still save for my eyes widening at what I saw. My blindsight had given me the shape of the room and its contents, but I hadn't been able to tell that some of the walls had actually been windows. And out of the nearest one I could see a blue star burning bright though the wisps of a nebula, with the bits of black beyond that full of stars.

It was… so beautiful.

I stared at the sight before me for a few moments before I forced myself to tear my eyes away. I looked down at the console I had my hand imbedded in, idly noticing how my arm's color and texture was now the same gray as the little object that had started this whole mess to begin with.

 _Ok, let's take stock_ , I thought to myself even as I felt the back of my mind continue to pick apart and analyze the alien computer. And it _was_ alien. _If that really was Starfire, and I am in space, that probably means that my captors are the… Psions, if I remember correctly. And that means… this is when Starfire got her powers._

Which was all well and good, but it didn't help me with my current goal of finding a way out of here. Hell, where would I even go, I was in god damn space! First things first though, I had solve this damn computer. Piecing things together at my current pace wasn't working, so I had to step it up. With a small bit of effort my spikes spread further.

I felt the systems became more unstable at the damage, but at the same time it became clearer in my head. I started to make out functions, relations, concepts. _Ok_ , I thought, _Security/Alarm/Resistance Off/Shutdown/Release_. A moment later, the sound of the alarms shut off, and I grinned. All right, now what? A way out would be nice, but to where?

Well, barring any better ideas, I guess I should try to get to Earth.

 _Structure/Layout/Schematic_. A rough wireframe of the space station formed in my head, giving me the image of a spire with a bulging disk partway up the length. An impression of a spot towards the top made me think that was where I was located. But it wasn't enough. _Hangar/Transport_. This time it took a few seconds, and I felt things start to fray a bit more before my attention was directed to a larger room on the outer part of the disk, not far from my current position. I took a moment to memorize the route.

But, even if I could get there, what would I do? I don't know how to fly a space ship. Maybe Koriand'r could help in that regard, but even then which way was Earth? _Ok, think, what do you know about Psions? They operate out of a specific system, which was… was… Vega, I think. Argh, still doesn't help, they probably call it something different_. As I wracked my brain for details, a small bit of trivia popped into my head. Wait, wasn't Vega supposed to be twenty six light years from Earth?

 _Universe/Stars/Navigation_. I felt a massive amount of data start pouring though my head before I frantically dug my spikes in deeper and added parameters. _Speed of Photon/ Seconds 86,400/Multiply 365/ Multiply 26_. Everything blurred a little more, but the data resolved itself into 4 distinct points. Most likely my mental conception of the distance wasn't as precise as it could have been. Great, but I'd rather not leave this to a one in four chance. Is there anything else that these lizards would know about that I could relate to Earth, something universal? But what the hell is universal here-

I stood up a little straighter as it came to me. The Guardians of the Universe. Any self-respecting space civilization would have to know about the Green Lantern Corps. Especially one as shady as the Psions, if only to keep tabs on them. The image of the Green Lantern insignia flashed through my mind as I added it to the search.

Three of the points blinked out, leaving just the one left. I gave a victorious grin before I set my face. The next part would be tricky, assuming the system was built to do this. _Plot Course/Download/Prepare Vessel_. It took several seconds and me digging dangerously into the console, but I managed to get the impression of a ship, a cylinder that tapered into flat hammerhead structures at both ends, with a trio of rings around the fuselage. _Hope that means its FTL capable_ , I thought as I felt the system start to finally collapse from the damage I inflicted.

One last thing. _Locate Tamaranian_. In the moments before the console in front of me broke down completely in a series of sparks, my mental map of the station revealed a pair of dots relatively close to each other, and conveniently on located on the way to the hangar.

I ripped my hand out of the computer, or at least tried to before I remember to retract all of my branching spikes back into my hand. Alright, not out of the woods yet, but now I have a goal: Get to Earth, and before that, get to the ship hangar. And on the way I can collect Koriand'r and we can-

Wait a second, didn't she say something about rescuing her sister?

I stood where was for a second longer before I started running. "Shit shit shit shit!"

I trusted the map I had committed to memory as I ran down the corridors, my body shifting back into my xenomorph form as I put on speed (though I kept my eyes this time). While most people would be happy to be rescued from sadistic aliens by their sister, Komand'r (a.k.a. Blackfire) was not one of them. It was probably something to do with how she betrayed the Tamaranian people to a conquering star empire to begin with, though at the moment I couldn't remember why she had done that. Was Koriand'r next in line for the throne for some reason…? It didn't matter. The important thing was that as the story went, when Starfire staged her escape from the Psions and went back to save her sister against her better judgment, Blackfire shot her in the back for her efforts and restrained her for execution. Starfire escaped, but I couldn't remember if it happened immediately or sometime after though.

As I wondered if my presence had already mucked things up, a thought occurred to me. _Then again, who says this universe has to perfectly match my memories?_ I thought. Seeing as how the multiverse is apparently real, what are the odds that I happened to land in one that my own universe is familiar with? Crucial details could be completely different. My momentum carried me into the wall as I rounded a corner, forcing me to wall run for a few seconds as I came with sight of what I assumed was a lab at the end of the hall. _Maybe in this universe, Blackfire isn't a complete bi-_

My thought was cut off when I saw a massive flash of magenta light followed by Koriand'r flying out of the lab and smashing into the other side of the hallway before she collapsed onto the ground in a heap. And staking out of the door, her fists glowing with power and her face twisted in rage, was Komand'r.

 _…_ _Never mind._

Koriand'r lifted her head weakly. "Dela… kelsa?"

"Borak kar…" Blackfire seethed as the purplish energy writhed on her hands before she aimed one at her sister. "Kenresh sur markal!"

Before she could do anything else, I slammed into her at top speed, knocking us both to the ground as I slashed at her with electrified claws. I only managed to slice open the black skinsuit she was wearing and put a few scratches on her before she threw me off with a scream, sending me crashing into a wall. I just barely managed to get my feet back under me in time to dodge a volley of starbolts hurled my way, and I was forced to keep moving as she didn't let up. I couldn't retreat with Koriand'r incapacitated nearby, and my claws had just proven ineffective against Tamaranian toughness. I knew I needed to go heavier, so I started to change to my human- no, humanoid form, not bothering with the details and letting my body do what it wanted.

It was faster than before in my cell, both due to practice and instinct, but it was still too slow. My expanding torso threw my balance off as I awkwardly juked to the side of another blast, and I almost fell when my arm beneath me slipped as it shifted in structure. I frantically moved as I tried to make it to cover, and my legs chose the worst time to snap back to plantigrade as AARRG!

A starbolt struck me right in the abdomen, and pain exploded through me as I felt a good chunk of my flesh disintegrate. I collapsed to the ground, and Blackfire smiled viciously as she lined up get glowing fist with my head. Before she could fire though, a green starbolt exploded against the side of her head, and she snarled as she turned to see Koriand'r feebly holding her arm out towards her while still on the ground. Blackfire simply strode over and kicked her sister hard enough to send her crashing into the wall again.

I bared my teeth in both anger and pain, trying to channel it into my transformation. _Armor, not just chitin, but real armor_ , I thought to myself as I tried to pull every scrap of what I was made of out. I had no idea how much 'stuff' I had to work with, if maybe I had more that it seemed due to density or pocket dimension weirdness, but I felt my body harden as my plates grew denser and expanded. My tail was absorbed into my body to patch my wound even as it armored over, and as I stood I felt new strength flood my limbs. Blackfire turned back to me as I charged her with a roar, and this time I was able to ignore the lessened pain from her starbolts and slugged her across the face.

Unfortunately, she simply whipped her head back around and started hammering into me with a series of punches of her own. I endured and stuck back as best I could, but it would have been a lie to say I gave as good as I got. Even with my new form the Tamaranian was still stronger than me, and had far more combat training than a programmer. It quickly became clear that I wasn't going to be able to beat her, and it wouldn't be long before she realized that I had no internals to break and moved on to something more effective. I needed to get her out of the way, but how?

I started to intentionally slow down, give her the impression that I was tiring. I let her push me back to the wall and pin me there, one hand gripping my throat as the other pulled back. I weakly grasped her arm as I let my other fall to my side, and I faked choking noises as I squirmed in her grasped. Blackfire paused for a moment before she smiled wickedly, and her fist started to glow with magenta energy. However, that hesitation was all the time I needed as I suddenly whipped my other arm back up, and she looked down at the shortened laser rifle my forearm had turned into just in time for it to shoot her in the face.

She screamed as the red beam hit her in the eyes, and she stumbled back from me blind. I quickly stepped forward and grabbed her, spinning her around once before I hurled her back into lab she had come out of and watched her smash into the operating slab. I then moved to the door and stabbed my hand into the door controls, interfacing and ordering the door to slam shut and lock. I had no illusions that it would hold her for long, but hopefully it would be long enough for Koriand'r and I to escape.

That hit a small snag when I looked at Koriand'r though and saw that she wasn't moving. I rushed over and knelt down, and much to my relief found her just unconscious. _No time to wait_ , I thought as I quickly scooped her up into a fireman's carry with my unchanged arm before I started my mad dash to the hangar.

The next few minutes were a blur of corridors, elevators, doors, and the occasional Psion that happened to spot me. I didn't bother giving them much mind as I was usually out of sight a few seconds later, and there was no way in hell I was going to slow down when an enraged Blackfire was probably on my tail. Sooner than I would have thought though I reached a cavernous room the size of a football field, a number of different ships littering the space. A large section at one end looked to be open to space, but I was willing to bet there was a force field in place to keep the air in. Lucky for me, I also managed to spot the ship I had seen while interfacing with the computer nearby, about the size of two city buses in length and a loading ramp already lowered.

Unluckily, it was also at that moment another Psion security team had caught up and entered the hangar from 20 meters away, screaming at me and opening fire. I returned fire as best I could as I headed for the ship, zig zagging to throw of their aim. A few blasts got closer than I liked, but I made it to the ramp and slammed my gun-arm into a button near the hatch. It did what I thought it did and closed the hatch behind me, and I could hear lasers striking the hull seconds later. I quickly found my way to the cockpit and looked at the console as my gun-arm turned back to normal. I found a spot I guessed was far from crucial systems and touched my hand to it, deploying my spikes as lightly as I could even as I mentally screamed.

 _Take Off/Exit System/Follow Programmed Course/GO!_

I was nearly thrown off my feet as the ship lurched into the air, and from the viewports and screens littering the cockpit I could see that we were moving. In ten seconds we cleared the hangar and were into space, in another ninety the space station was shrinking in the distance behind us, and in another five seconds space warped around the ship and we were gone.

* * *

I managed to find something I thought was a small medbay on the ship and laid Koriand'r down on the bed, checking over her as best I could. A good portion of the back of her suit was burned away, and the skin of her back looked burned. I had no idea how badly she was actually hurt though. I knew a little bit about human injuries, but how well did that translate to super charged Tamaranians?

I scoured the ship for anything I could find, which as it turned out was a good deal more than I thought. I found any number of strange devices ranging from handheld to about as big as I was in size, plus a rack of weapons similar to the ones the security team had carried. I also think I found something akin to a first aid kit with a few different kinds of fabric and tubes that contained various liquids. Thing was that aside from the guns I had no idea what any of it did. Still, I did have a bit of a way around that, though I was hesitant to destroy anything that might be useful later (even if I didn't know what those things were). Such as it was, I decided to start with the handheld devices, as I had several of them on hand.

I picked one up from the pile I had made on the bench, a little pad with a screen on it. A moment later my hand unfurled and consumed it, and I paid as much attention as I could to what was happening. The device seemed to dissolve as spikes pierced into it, each one branching off into smaller spikes that seemed to follow patterns in the hardware, physically mapping it out even as it took everything apart. The process took barely a second to finish, and I once again felt that strange sensation in the back of my mind, like there was something I couldn't quite remember. Focusing on that for a few seconds resulted in something shifting and forming in my head and-

I stumbled as I was suddenly bombarded by new sensations and impulses, with textures and sounds rippling through me as whatever was left of my brain tried to make sense of it all. I desperately tried to shut it down and focusing on one thing at a time, staring at the grating beneath my feet as I did so. As I started to get it under control I felt my eyes undergo an abrupt change before everything in my vision changed shades and brightness. My body was glowing slightly compared to the metal around me, and as I looked up I saw the same could be said of the lights above. _Huh. Infrared._ I thought to myself.

A few more mental adjustments and I realized that I could switch my vison across a good deal of the electromagnetic spectrum, from what I guessed were microwaves to x-rays. Radio and gamma were too difficult for me to visualize though, and that was to say nothing of the half dozen other senses I couldn't understand at the moment. _Hmm, I guess it was some kind of tricorder thing. I can copy hardware of the sensors… but not the software that would let me parse the data? That's annoying_. Regardless, I would have to mess around with that later, as I still hand an injured Tamaranian on my hands. I pick up another tricorder and this time only partially consumed it, trying to interface with it as I did the computer. I was mostly successful, and headed back over to Koriand'r.

A few minutes of poking and led me to conclude that she would probably be fine. I had used every mental command I could think off along the lines of 'assess health of subject' with the tricorder, and everything I got back felt positive. I could also see interesting patterns of energy flowing beneath her skin if I switched my eyes to infrared, and to my untrained gaze everything looked stable as I tried to make her comfortable on her side.

Still, though I tried to stay focused as possible, I couldn't help but acknowledge as I looked her over that she was _spectacularly_ built. As in, I had never seen a woman both that attractive and that physically fit in my entire life. She looked as good as models did after they went through all that photoshop magic, except she somehow still managed it while lying on a bed after getting the crap kicked out of her. I couldn't exactly tell was her age was, somewhere in her late teens, maybe easily twenties at a glance, but part of me knew that could couldn't rely on appearance as she was an alien.

Of course, another part of me knew that I shouldn't be staring so much at the maybe-teenager.

I grunted at that and stood back up, noticing a mirror to my side as I did so. I spent a few moments finally getting a good look at my body in its humanoid form… and I started to wonder if my subconscious was playing a role in shaping me after all. Because my original form bearing a striking resemblance to a xenomorph could be coincidence, but the fact that my humanoid form was reminding me an awful lot of Guyver was pushing it. It wasn't exactly the same of course, I had a few more ridges lining my shoulders and sides, and my head was nothing like a helmet, but I had the same segmented carapace like armor with a darker grey material filling in the flexible parts between the lighter grey plates. It was all organic curves save for my claws on my hands and feet. Still, in spite of all that most of my attention was on my face.

It wasn't horrifying looking, but that was the best I could say about it. My face was almost completely flat with no nose, and if I pressed my thin lips together you could be forgiven for thinking that I didn't have a mouth at all. My eyes were too small and round, and I hadn't even formed ears at all. I hadn't hit the uncanny valley yet by simple virtue of not really looking human at all, but that didn't really ease my personal disquiet of looking at something that was not me in the mirror.

I let out a sigh before I got to work, carefully focusing on the individual features and shapes I wanted. Having a reflective surface (and eyes) to check my work made things a lot easier than they had been in my cell, but it was still difficult. I could change any number of things about myself at once so long as I favored function over form, but since I was doing the opposite of that I had to take it one feature at a time. It took the better part of an hour to sculpt everything to something I was satisfied with. I still didn't look quite human, but I could have passed for a well done Star Trek alien, and that was good enough for now.

Unfortunately, it was then I realized that I had run out of things to keep me busy. Koriand'r and I were safe, the ship was on its way to Earth, and there was nothing else to could do to help. Which meant… that it was finally time to start dealing with everything.

I pulled up a chair to the side of her bed and sat down, resting my head in my hands as I forced myself to recognize the obvious. I… was in the DC universe. Well, _a_ DC universe, but that hardly made a difference. I would have loved to know that such a thing was possible, was real, so long as it hadn't involvement me finding out quite so first hand. How was I going to get home? I mean, if nothing else my presence here proved that it should be possible to go back, but how long would take to find it? What must my family be going through right now, me having disappeared without a trace? I felt my nonexistent heart clench in my chest at that thought, and part of me wanted to sob. But I couldn't. I physically couldn't anymore.

And that was a problem all on its own. Just what the hell was my new body? How did it do the things it did, and more importantly, what was it doing to me? It had already taken or altered most of my physical sensations, and who knew what the long term effects of being stuck like this would do to me. Hell, who's to say that it wasn't affecting me mentally too? I had killed two sapients and… even now I didn't feel anything about it. Sure I was about as justified as you could get, but I would have thought that I would have felt something from ending a life. Is that how I always would have responded, or was something else at work?

An insidious thought wormed its way to the forefront of my mind as I remember how my body was melted and consumed. _How do I know that I'm the real me?_

I'm not sure how long I sat there, but eventually a slight moan snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked up to see Koriand'r shifting slightly before her eyes fluttered open. Her gaze locked onto me before she bolted upright, her head whipping around to take in her surroundings. I put my own thoughts aside once more before I held up my hands in a placating manner. "Easy, easy, we're safe now. I managed to get us to a ship and get away from the station. I don't think anyone's pursuing us."

There was a long pause before she returned her gaze back to me. "I see… and my sister?"

I shifted uncomfortably. "I… locked her back up. She wasn't being cooperative."

A look of sadness crossed her face and she closed her eyes. She remained like that before she took a deep breath and opened them again, sitting up straighter before looking at me. "My name is Koriand'r. We have fought side by side and you have saved my life when you could have left me behind. Thank you for all that you have done."

Ah, I was never good at receiving praise. Especially from a woman who- "I-It's fine." I managed to get out. "You got me out in the first place. I couldn't leave you like that." A pause. "Oh, my name's Jacob."

She beamed at me in response. "It is wonderful to meet you Jacob." She paused for a moment before she asked. "If I may ask, how did you end up in that facility? I was not aware that the Psions had anyone other than myself and my sister there for experimentation."

I let out a breath as I leaned back in my chair. "I wish I could tell you. I was on my way to work a few days ago, I blacked out, and I work up on a slab with one of those lizards looking down at me. It's possible they abducted me, but I honestly don't know."

She tilted her head to the side. "Did you not find out when you interfaced with their systems?"

"I'm… not very good at that yet. I just barely managed to get the navigational data sent to this ship before I ended up destroying the whole thing."

"Ah, I am sorry to hear that." Koriand'r blinked. "Where are we going?"

"A planet called Earth. It's my home-" I cut myself of when I realized that wasn't true. "Ah, it's where my people are from. We should be able to get help there." She looked away for a moment, and before I knew it I blurted out "I'm sorry, I didn't know where your planet was."

A pained look crossed her face, and I felt like kicking myself. I knew what her response was before she said it. "It is… fine. I cannot return to my own world."

"I'm… sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"It is not your fault, you could not have known." I felt a bit of guilt at that, but when she continued her expression brightened. "In any case, I will be happy to see your world. If your people are anything like yourself, it must be a wonderful place indeed."

I felt glad for my inability to blush as I responded "Thanks, though you should know my species doesn't look like this." I gestured to myself. "I… something was done to me to give me my current body and abilities. Normally we look quite similar to your own people, I imagine."

Koriand'r gave me a curiously look for a few seconds before she nodded and stood. "I see. Well, then you shall be a most exceptional person among them indeed." She said cheerfully.

"I'm not so sure about that…" I muttered under my breath.

* * *

The journey took just over a day to reach the Sol System. Which was good, considering that there didn't seem to be any rations on the ship, something that would have become a problem for Koriand'r if it took much longer. I hadn't eaten since my transformation and I felt fine, which implied that I got my nutrition via… other means that didn't bear thinking on at the time.

We talked a bit on the way there, though there was nothing substantial to it. I was a terrible conversationalist in general, and it was made worse by the fact that I knew what she had been through. I tried to keep things to lighter topics, asking her about her life before her capture and her family (turns out her sister was denied the throne because a childhood illness took away her ability to fly, weird). I responded in kind when she asked, though I was forced to be evasive a few times when it would have revealed my true origin. I didn't like lying to her, but I wasn't sure what I should do about that.

Either way, I was glad when an alert sounded throughout the ship and I felt a slight lurch. Moving to the cockpit revealed the black of space once again, with one of the stars before us much closer than the others.

I looked over at my companion. "Can you pilot this ship? I'm afraid my method would cause too much damage."

She gave a small nod as she floated over to the controls. "I am not well versed in this type of ship, but I have had a bit of experience. I shall do the best I can." She tapped a few buttons on the console before her before she took hold of the control yokes. "If I am to understand this, we are headed for the third planet from the sun, yes?"

"Yep. That's Earth."

She let out a soft noise as she angled the controls. I didn't feel anything, but I assumed that we were moving. A few minutes passed before she said "I am afraid I am not proficient with these communications. Will we be fired upon for not answering hails immediately?"

"…we shouldn't be." I said, not liking how I couldn't give a more certain answer. With my newly enhanced vision I could just barely start to make out a blue orb out of the cockpit viewport as I said "If my knowledge is correct, we will probably get someone coming out to meet us-"

Suddenly there was a flash of green in front of us which resolved itself into a man. He was dark skinned, wearing a form fitting black and green uniform that bore an insignia that was known throughout space, and a glowing green ring was on his finger. He pointed the ring at the ship, and there was a brief squeal from the ships audio system before it resolved itself into a voice.

"Unidentified vessel," John Stewart said calmly. "You have entered the boundaries of Earth space. Power down engines and state your intentions."

"…right now." I finished lamely.

=====A=====


	4. 1-3

====A=====

I paused for a long moment, caught completely off guard by Green Lantern's sudden appearance before I finally said "Uh… can you hear us?"

"Yes, I can." He replied, his posture as he floated before us unchanged.

 _One less complication I guess_ , I thought before I continued. "My name is Jacob Morgan. A few days ago I was abducted and experimented on by an alien race called Psions. Me and another prisoner have managed to escape, and I brought us back here."

Through the viewport I could see the man arch an eye brow at that. "Are you trying to tell me that you're human? Because my scans from what I think is you isn't even close."

I rolled my eyes. "Like I said, I was experimented on. I don't really know what the hell I am anymore. Look, I'm speaking English, isn't that proof enough?"

He hesitated for a moment before I saw him mouth something, and then his eyebrows rose in surprise. "Doesn't necessarily mean anything," he commented, though his tone was uncertain. "It's not hard to pick up a planet's language, even one as isolated as Earth's."

This time Koriand'r spoke. "Please, this is not the time for suspicion. For what purpose could he possibly try to deceive you, Lantern? He has come here to return home, and I am here seeking refuge. I swear to you that this is true."

Lantern Stewart was silent at that, but then he raised his other hand towards us as he pulled his ring next to his ear. I'm sure the motion was for our benefit rather than an actual need to do so, as he then started speaking without letting us hear. A full minute passed as we waited on the man before he lowered his hand and spoke to us. "This is unusual… but I guess not impossible. I'm going to escort you back to the Watchtower so we can get to the bottom of this. If it turns out you're lying…" The glow around him increased slightly. "Things are going to get very unpleasant."

I let out a breath. Given the circumstances that was probably the best I could hope for. "Thank you. So, how exactly is this going to work?"

"I'll be calling on my associates to verify your identity." He replied. "Till then you can stay in one of our conference rooms-"

There was a sudden loud rumble from Koriand'r's stomach, and as I glanced over at her she put on a sheepish smile. My mouth quirked a bit before I looked back out at the man floating in space. "If you don't mind, do you think that we could make that a mess hall instead?"

* * *

Have you ever seen a woman devour an entire rotisserie chicken inside of 90 seconds? Because I now have, and it has changed me.

Lantern Stewart and I looked on nonplussed as Koriand'r tore into her third helping, the empty plates scattered around the table proof of her conquest. I had known that she was hungry, but I had no idea that she could pack it away quite that much. I was suddenly glad that the Watchtower mess hall was so well stocked, and that the three of us were the only ones there as we waited for more of the Justice League to arrive.

That said, I was under no illusions that we weren't being watched. Aside from how John Stewart had stuck by us the entire time he pulled our ship into the Watchtower hangar and escorted us to our current location, we had always been in sight of cameras. And I was sure there were other things I couldn't see as well. Two of those senses I had gotten from the tricorder were giving me something that hadn't been there before I set foot on the space station, even if I had no idea what they were or what they meant yet.

Speaking of the Watchtower, it did not look at all like I expected it to. Rather than some kind of normal technological space station, it looked like a massive monolith that had been partially carved out of a rough asteroid. The flat side of the 'monolith' part was lined with windows before it reached bottom, and the whole thing turned back into unhewn rock. At the very least, I now knew that I wasn't in any DC continuity I was familiar with. That meant I couldn't completely rely on my knowledge of the superheroes of this universe, including of the man standing next to me.

As for John Stewart himself… well, he was a difficult read. Since I had met him he hadn't done anything threatening or aggressive, but I could tell that he hadn't let down his guard either (at least in regards to me, though I wasn't entirely sure why I seemed to bother him so much). And despite how generally quiet he had been I'll be damned if he didn't have a presence about him that seemed to fill the room. It may have been because I grew up with him being a fictional hero, but… there was something awe inspiring about being around Green Lantern John Stewart.

Though he was significantly shorter than I thought he'd be. That was a rather weird quirk for this universe to have.

I was roused from my thoughts when, in between bites, Koriand'r said "I am… confused as to what exactly this Justice League is, and why a Green Lantern would be a part of it. Is it somehow an extension of your Corps?"

Lantern Stewart shook his head. "The Justice League exists separately from the Green Lantern Corps, though this isn't the first time a Lantern has been part of more local authorities in order to do their job. In short, the Justice League is an independent organization of exceptionally powered individuals that protects the planet Earth, and the Sol system in general. Usually in the form of fighting crime and warding off catastrophic threats."

"Ah! Not dissimilar from the old Warrior Justicars back on Tamaran. A worthy occupation. But does that mean you spend most of your time on one planet?"

"Yes, but I assure you that Earth is a handful. Surprisingly large number of supervillains per capita." He grunted. "I happened to be on monitor duty when you showed up, so I saw when the scans picked up your FTL signature entering the system."

As he said that, I realized something. "Earlier you said you could tell that I wasn't physical human, even when there was a ship's hull between us. I take it your ring has some pretty advanced scanning abilities?"

"It's one the most advanced pieces of technology in the universe, so yes."

"This may seem like an odd request… but can you use your ring to tell me just what my body is?"

That man arched his eyebrow at me. "What, you don't know?"

I shrugged. "I said I was experimented on. The lizards that did it didn't exactly explain what they were doing to me. All I know is that I can now shapeshift and can eat technology." As I spoke, I shifted my left arm into its club configuration, careful not to move it in any way that could be seen as a threat.

Stewart hummed at that for a moment before he extended his ring hand out towards me, and a curtain of green light swept up and down my body. It felt… mildly unpleasant actually, and I had to keep myself from twitching as a full minute passed before the light cut off. A screen appeared in front of the other man's face, and after a few moments I saw his eyebrows rise once again. "That's… unexpected."

"Well, give it to me straight doctor. How bad is it?"

His mouth twisted a little before a green hologram popped up between us, showing something that looked squat and bug-like with a number of pincers lining the edges. "Near as I can tell, your body is made entirely out of some sort of biomechanical nanites, though you favor artificial composition by about 2 to nanites appear to communicate with each other via a distributed network model, sharing information and power across your entire body." He gave a start before he looked back at me. "Ah, a distributed system is like-"

"I'm a computer scientist, I know how distributed systems work." I interrupted, noting that this John Stewart was more technically minded than I would have thought. Though if that was an actual difference or poor memory on my part I didn't know. After a second I asked with some trepidation "So, how does my brain look?"

He shook he head. "I don't know, I can't find it." I felt my non-existent heart fall at that, but he continued. "Your nanites have formed into a number of different unique structures throughout your whole body, but I can't see any that resembles normal human neurological tissue. Hell, I don't even know if you have a centralized region for your mind, and I'm inclined to think you don't." He paused for a moment before he asked. "You said something about 'eating' technology. Can you willing shift yourself into more complicated things than simple shapes?"

I nodded as my left arm shifted again into my laser rifle configuration (barrel pointed firmly at the floor of course). The other man grunted as his eyes flicker between it and the screen. "Interesting. There are many elements of a Psion laser weapon in there, but it's heavily modified to work with your own physical composition, to the point where the design is biomechanical itself. You… ate one of their weapons for this?" I nodded. "Well, just don't think that's all you'll need to eat if you're going to keep doing this. You'll need both inorganic and organic elements to replenish you nanites."

As he said that, a thought occurred to me. "I haven't really eaten that much since this started, but I somehow feel fine, and have the power to fire my laser. So, where's that energy coming from?"

He let out a breath. "That's the really wild part. It looks like every one of your nanites is its own power source. It's negligible individually, but you're made of hundreds of trillions of the things, and they can all reroute and combine their power flawlessly."

"But, how are things as small as nanites able to generate their own power?" I asked. I didn't know much about nanotechnology, but I knew that at least back in my own world one of the biggest hurdles to nano-scale robots was keeping them powered, as they were too small to hold much of a charge.

Stewart's mouth twisted. "It's complicated, but the short of it is that they're tapping power from the space between different universes. We call it the Bleed." I tried to not let my surprise show as he said that. I think it worked, as he continued without pause. "Thing is I've never seen such a power generator this small either, or know why anyone would do it. A normal Bleed Torsion Generator can get about as small as hand if you're one of the most technologically advanced species around, but that proportionally generates far more power per mass than your own. And that's not even getting into how you'd get them all to play nice with each other, as that much warping of dimensions in such a small space tends to cause problems."

I was silent for a moment before I said "I'll admit I don't know much about various alien species and their tech levels… but it sounds like this is not something the Psions could make."

He shook his head. "They might be more advanced than most, but this is definitely beyond their capabilities."

I was about to ask who he thought could have made it, the door to the cafeteria opened, and three more people entered. I wasn't sure who I had been expecting to show, but my breath still caught at the sight of them. Wonder Woman in her star spangled cuirass, walking next to the cowl and cloaked Batman. And walking in front of them, dressed in blue with a red cape and yes, his underwear on the outside, was Superman.

I know it was a bit of a disservice to the others, but I couldn't help but feel a bit of childish glee at seeing Superman. I mean… he's Superman! I was meeting Superman! The most iconic superhero of all time! He was Truth, Justice, and the American way! He was the ideal that almost all other superheroes looked up too! He was-

He was also shorter than me.

I couldn't help but blink at that odd realization. Ok, how the hell did I seem to be taller than all of the heroes in this universe? I'm average height.

 _Or am I?_ I thought before I glanced over at Koriand'r, who had stood upon the entrance of the other three heroes. In the comics she was always very tall, ranging between 6'4" and 6'7", and after a moment's observation I realized that I was actually just as tall as she was. Huh. I guess I unconsciously made myself match her height when I shifted to my current form. After a moment's reflection, I decided that I was fine with that.

"So, you're the new arrivals I've heard about." Superman said as he extended his hand toward me. "I hope you don't mind the reception, but you have to understand that we don't get extra-terrestrial visitors very regularly."

 _Says the alien_ , I thought flatly, but I still felt a small thrill as I took his hand in kind and said "Not a problem, sir. I understand the need for caution." The words came to me reflexively, as I tended to default to polite when confronted with new social situation.

The man nodded in response as we shook before pulling his hand back before he offered the same respect to Koriand'r. "I'm sure your companion knows, but I'm Superman, and this is Batman and Wonder Woman." The two shook before he looked at both of us. "Right, well, we've had a look at your ship, and it seems that you're telling the truth, at least about where you came from."

He gave us a broad smile as he turned his attention to Koriand'r. "Where I come from we have a long history of welcoming immigrants with open arms. We may need to get you up to speed as how things work on this planet, but as long as you follow the laws of Earth I see no reason why you can't stay." His face then fell as he looked back at me. "However, I'm afraid we've run into a bit of a problem with you."

Batman suddenly spoke, his voice stern. "There have been no Jacob Morgans reported missing in New York City in the past few days, or even the past few years. Which means that you are either not who you say you are… or someone has taken you place."

The room was silent for a moment at that, and I wondered just how I wanted to response. I didn't wait very long though, because there wasn't much to consider; if I wanted to get home that was. "That… doesn't really surprise me sir. I know what I'm about to say next is going to sound even more unbelievable but… I believe that this isn't my home universe."

Koriand'r straightened in surprise as she looked at me. "What? What makes you say that?"

"Because before I left Earth there was no Justice League, no super heroes." I replied. "The International Space Station was the only human habitable satellite, and I think I would have noticed this!" I said as I guessed to the Watchtower around us.

The assembled heroes cast odd glances at each other before they looked back at me. "It is a bit unusual for you to come to that conclusion so quickly. Is your home universe more familiar with interdimensional travel than ours?" Wonder Woman asked.

I shook my head. "Only in theory, but we are pretty familiar with the concept. I mean, this is clearly not the Earth I left, and the only reasons I can think of for such a radical change are that and time travel, and I don't think…" I trailed off for a moment. "Actually, what year is it?"

"2010."

I blinked. "That's… six years in the past for me."

Batman grunted. "Then barring any sort of massive reality restructuring event in the next six years, you being from an alternate Earth is the most likely assumption." A beat. "If we take everything else to be true."

I was starting to feel a little annoyed by this, mostly because I had already given them all the proof I had. What more did they want from me to know I was telling the truth? I suppressed the urge to become indignant, as I felt that always made me just look like an ass rather than getting me what I wanted, and thought about it. After a moment my eyes drifted over to Wonder Woman and an idea came to me, and I resigned myself to it. "Well, I don't know what else to tell you. I mean, you have to have a way of making sure I'm telling the truth about this like, I don't know, a lie detector or something." I said, trying to hint at it.

There was a pause before Wonder Woman spoke, her hand drifting to the lasso at her waist. "We do, we just don't use it on people unless there is dire need. Most consider it an invasion of privacy."

I pretended to hesitate for a moment before I said. "Well, tell me what it is and let me be the judge."

She took hold of the lasso and held it up. "This is the Lasso of Truth. When you are bound by it you will be forced to tell the truth, as well as compelled to answer any questions I ask. Are you willing to be bound?"

Before I could reply Koriand'r spoke up on my behalf. "This is unnecessary!" She exclaimed. "Can't you simply trust his word? If he says that he is from another universe, then he is."

I raised my hand towards her before she got further. "Koriand'r, its fine. I'm willing to show a little trust to get some in return, and if this is the fastest way to verify what I'm saying, I'm willing to do it." I turned back to Wonder Woman. "That said, if you start asking unnecessary personal questions, that trust is going to disappear fast."

She gave me a small smile. "Of course. I will keep my questions on topic." She said, and with a trained flick of her wrist the rope unfurled and the loop went over my head, settling around my shoulders before it tightened around me. Even as it started to softly glow I didn't feel any different, though part of me was still a bit worried. _Please don't ask any questions that will reveal how much porn of you I've seen, please don't ask me any questions that will reveal how much porn of you I've seen…_

"What is your name?" She asked.

"Jacob Morgan." I replied.

"Are you human?"

I was about to say yes when I suddenly found myself saying "I… I was. I don't know if I qualify anymore." Huh, didn't know that the lasso would keep you from saying half-truths.

If Wonder Woman was thrown off by this answer she didn't show it. "How were you abducted?"

"I don't know. I was heading in for work one morning, I blacked out, and then I woke up on a lab table." I said, and I kept going. "They put something on my chest, grey, chitinous, and about the size of my hand. It burrowed into me and changed me, converting my body into a swarm of nanties." I gestured my head a Lantern Stewart. "He can tell you more. Beyond that I… I don't know. I just want to go home."

Diana nodded, and with another flick of her wrist the lasso came off. "That is enough. He is who he says he is."

"I'm glad we got that resolved quickly, but I'm afraid that there's not much we can do for you at the moment." Superman said. "I don't think we have any means of getting you back to your home universe." He paused in thought for moment before he turned to look at Batman and asked "Do you think Doctor Fate might be able to help?"

"Unlikely. Though he has traveled to other planes of existence, as far as I know he can't travel to alternate Earths." Was the response. "I will ask to be sure, but I wouldn't rely on it."

"There's also the question of how we would find your universe even if we could travel there." Lantern Stewart added. "As far as I can tell you're not giving off any Bleed radiation, so at the very least we'd need to find the portal you came through to get its signature, and considering the time frame you've given us I'd be surprised if even remnants remained."

"But, you have 'one of the most advanced pieces of technology in the universe'." I insisted. "Surely it or whoever made it knows how to travel to other universes."

The man's mouth twisted. "The Guardians of the Universe have enough trouble with one universe, so they don't go out looking for more. They might have some knowledge that will help build an interdimensional portal, but…" He shook his head. "Look, Green Lanterns are prohibited by treaty from going to the Vega system, so I can't even go check for a Bleed signature. Any knowledge the Guardians would let me have would be useless."

I stared at him for a long moment, trying and failing to not accept the thing I had suspected since I realized where I was. Finally, I said "So, that's it then?", this time unable to keep the heat out of my voice. "There's nothing you can do? I thought your job was to save people!"

"And we don't always succeed." Superman said sadly. "We can continue to look into it, but for now…"

"And what am I supposed to do in the meantime?" I asked tersely, trying to keep myself under control. "I… just can't do nothing! I can't sit around up here waiting for something that might never come!"

Superman was about to say something else, but Batman interrupted. "Why not?" The rest of us looked at him and he continued. "We could provide you most of what you would want or need for your stay here if you were so inclined. Why isn't that good enough?"

I started to answer before I stopped, the question giving me pause. Why wouldn't it be enough? I was an introverted shut in when all was said and done. And to be honest living on a space station sounded pretty cool, even if I wasn't sure if Batman was making a serious offer. And even though (thankfully) this wasn't the Marvel universe, running around looking like I was among normal people still wasn't going to be a great time. So, why?

Eventually, I found myself saying "Because… after everything that has happened to me, what I have become, I can't just ignore it and pretend to be normal while someone else fixes it. If I have to stay here for a while, I don't want to for it to be meaningless, or even be a facsimile of my life back home. I want to see what I can do, what I can become. I can assimilate technology for God's sake, I have to be useful somewhere!"

Batman's posture and expression didn't change at that, but after a few moments of silence he nodded. "I see. Earlier Koriand'r said that you saved her when you could have run. Why?"

I blinked at the non-sequitur before I answered plainly "Because it was the right thing to do."

He was silent for a moment longer before he said. "I can understand your need to find a place world following the loss of what you know, and people finding themselves with sudden powers isn't terribly uncommon on this Earth. Normally the League only keeps an eye on such situations, but in these circumstances I believe we have a place for you to use your new talents to the fullest."

I hesitated before I asked "Are… you suggesting that I join the Justice League?"

"No." He said flatly, catching me off guard. "The League is very careful in its selection of members. Whether or not you join the League would be considered at a later date. However, we do have a set of associated members who are forming their own team."

Superman gave Batman an incredulous look as he seemed to catch on to what he was getting at. "Are you sure about this? We already added J'onn's niece."

"No, I think this idea has merit…" Wonder Woman interjected. "It will be a learning environment and let him associate with people used to the oddities of this world. And surely letting him help to protect the world is better than keeping him sequestered or simply releasing him out into the world."

Batman continued. "You will work with a team and carry out missions that I assign you, and your performance will be evaluated. You will function in a support role until I decide that you are ready for more active work. Does this sound acceptable?"

"I wish to join as well." Our heads all whipped around to look at Koriand'r, who stared back resolutely. "If Jacob is to join this team of protectors, then it will not be alone. I too do not wish to be simply idle, and working in defense of this Earth shall be how I repay its hospitality."

The various League members looked at each other questioningly, and after a few moments of silent communication Batman turned back towards us. "Very well. Do you agree, Jacob?"

I was stunned for a few moments longer before I had to suppress a few hysterical giggles. I had thought about it on the flight here, but I had been so focused on how I was getting home that I never seriously entertained the thought. I mean, yes I was in the DC universe, and yes I had gotten what might be considered superpowers but I didn't really think that childish little thought would actually happen. But here I was. Batman was offering me a chance to become a superhero.

In that moment I could see my future laid out before me, fighting supervillains and saving lives among the heroes of the DC universe. And I knew I could be amazing at it. Not just because of my abilities, but because of my knowledge. It wasn't perfect for this universe, but even just having the broad stokes would be a massive advantage. I knew secrets, weaknesses, possible history that no one knew. I knew of technology I could consume, what to avoid, who I could probably trust and who I probably couldn't. With luck and skill I could become one of the greatest heroes on Earth. And all I had to do was say yes.

"No."

Not like this.

Everyone was caught by surprise by this, but I continued before they could say anything. "Before I say yes, I need to tell you something."

It was hard to tell, but I swore I saw Batman narrow his eyes ever so slightly. "And what is that?"

This was my only chance to back out if I wanted, but I had made up my mind. If I was going to be a superhero, a real superhero, I was going to do it right. And that meant not making it about me. It meant putting myself in danger if it meant it could save lives.

It meant telling the truth.

"Let me tell you about DC Comics…"

=====A=====

A/N: Unfortunately, it wasn't until afterwords one of my readers pointed out that DC stands for 'Detective Comics', thus making the term 'Dc Comics' redundant. I guess that universe will just be saying it wrong...


	5. 1-4

=====A=====

They seemed to be taking it well.

"-and then the Amazons attacked DC with a deadly bee weapon."

Unfortunately, after I had covered the basics of DC comic books and their shared universe of stories, they didn't really say anything (probably digesting the information). Which prompted me to keep talking.

"-but Green Lantern decided that he needed _all_ the power rings."

So I tried letting them know about the worst threats I could think of off the top of my head. And, given my own scatterbrained thoughts combined with normal comic weirdness, had resulted in what I had to assume sounded like the insane ramblings of a complete lunatic.

"-but the universe was saved, by the power of Queen!"

I tried to stop. I really did. But they just keep staring at me, so I just kept digging that hole deeper.

"-and then the world was wiped out by a virus, which somehow leads to an elderly Superman fighting twin clones of Hitler."

For the love of God, please stop me!

"Doomsday. Not even once-"

"That's enough." Batman finally said, and thankful I finally shut my trap.

The room was silent for several more seconds before someone spoke. "So, to sum up, you're saying that where you're from… we're characters?" Wonder Woman asked.

"Pretty much." I said. "Some of the most famous and well known characters in the world, point of fact. You people defined our superhero genre."

"Am I the only one who finds this a little farfetched?" Stewart asks as he looks around at everyone else in the room. "I mean, I know that such a thing is theoretically possible given the multiverse, but this…"

I shrugged. "Hey, you can use the lasso again if you want, but I swear I'm telling the truth."

"Be that as it may, I'm having some trouble with a few of the things you told us." Superman said evenly. "Most of it certainly hasn't happened in this world, and a good portion I find highly unlikely to ever happen."

"Yes, well, you have to understand that these stories have been going on in my world for upwards of 80 years." I replied. "Even ignoring that a sizable portion of that body of work is bound to be of poor quality, there's also the fact your 'universe' as been retconned and rebooted several times. And that's not even counting all of the parallel universes and Elseworld comics. I'll be the first to admit that a lot of what I know is useless."

Koriand'r then spoke up for the first time since I started my explanation. "These… stories of yours… am I in any of them?"

I turned to look at her, hesitating a bit. "Ah, yes." I said. "You're fairly prominent in a lot of them."

I didn't understand the look that crossed her face at that moment, but before I could say anything else Batman spoke up. "So how much do you know that you think will be useful?"

I looked back at him. "A lot of broad strokes and a number of small details. Like I said earlier this universe doesn't exactly match anything I know, so there's no guarantee that any of my knowledge is accurate." I gestured. "For example, I'm pretty sure that I know a good number of secret identities as those are fairly consistent, but there is a chance they could be different here."

"I hope I don't have to tell you that information about our identities is not to be told to anyone without explicit permission, even to other members of the League." Batman said with the hint of a growl.

I held up my hands placating. "Of course, of course. I won't tell anyone about that. Still, if even a little bit of this jumbled mess of knowledge floating around in my head is useful, if just one of these threats happens to show up… well, I felt you guys should know about it."

Wonder Woman smiled at me. "Well, I for one am glad you told us, even if the idea will take a bit of getting used to. I'm sure it would have been much easier for you to keep this a secret, but it's good to know that you value honesty so highly."

I folded my arms and drew back a little at the praise. "Ah, it's nothing. Just seemed like the right thing to do." I turned my attention back to Batman. "So, that's all my cards out on the table. Do you still want me to join this team?"

Batman stared at me blankly for several long seconds, an act I was coming to believe was a sign that he was thinking deeply but didn't want to stop potentially intimidating someone. Eventfully he said "While your knowledge is concerning and we will certainly go more in depth into it at a later date, the fact that there are fictitious writing about the League in a parallel universe are not all that surprising. My limited understanding of the Bleed is that things have a tendency to… well, bleed between universes, and perhaps that is the link that you followed to get here." He gestured. "As for yourself, the fact that you freely admitted this knowledge when you could have held it back tells me that you will not be an intentional danger to the team."

"Thank you… I think." I said.

He continued. "That said, we will still have to proceed with caution. If any supervillains find out about what you know, you and the team will undoubtedly targeted by them. For this reason, you are not to tell your teammates about your 'meta-knowledge'."

That caused me to still, and I couldn't keep the frown off my face as I said "Sir, you realize that flies in the face of the _entire reason_ I told you this, don't you?"

"Yes." Batman freely admitted. "But that doesn't change the fact that members of the team are inexperienced and I am uncertain if they can keep a secret of this magnitude. And that is to say nothing about how they might respond to knowledge of their… alternate selves."

"Be that as it may, that knowledge could also save their lives." I pointed out.

"Or they could act rashly on it or trust it too much and it will get them killed." He said back, his tone unflinching.

The two of us stared at each other for several seconds as I mulled it over. As much as I didn't like it, he did have a bit of a point. Without knowing just who my teammates were and how well adjusted they were, they might not take to the information too well. Was there some sort of middle ground? Still frowning, I said. "I'm not holding back information, at least about the threats that we're facing at a given moment. If I think the situation warrants it, I'll tell them what I know, even if it makes no sense how I would know it. If they ask how I know, I'll refer them back to you."

Again I received the thousand-yard-bat-stare as he thought this over. Internally I was sweating bullets. _Why in God's name am I trying to play hardball with Batman?! Where the hell is this coming from?!_ Before I could find the answer though, he spoke. "The responsibility falls on you. If I feel that you're revealing more information than necessary, you will stop. Failure to do so, or if your actions directly harm your teammates, it will result in your removal. Am I clear?" I nodded, figuring that this was the best deal I was going to get. "Good. We will have much to talk about, but I imagine that you both are tired. I'll show you where you can get cleaned up and get changed before we head to your new residence."

"We're not staying here? What about the ship I came in?" I asked.

"The Watchtower is League only, and the team has their own headquarters on Earth." He replied. "As for your vessel, there is no space or entrance at your headquarters that is prepared to handle it, so it will have to stay up here for now. I would prefer to keep it on the Watchtower indefinitely, but I imagine that someone of your abilities would like to make 'use' of it."

"Well, I'd prefer to keep the FTL capable space ship functional, but there is a lot of spare stuff in there that I think I could use."

He grunted. "One of the Green Lanterns shall do an inventory. If nothing is deemed too hazardous it will be brought down to you. The possibility of bringing down the entire ship will be discussed at a later date."

Wasn't sure I entirely liked that, but I couldn't really argue that I needed the whole space ship right that second. "Alright, fine."

"Good. I will meet you at the Watchtower control center in one hour." With that, well followed him out of the mess hall.

Koriand'r was silent the whole time.

* * *

The windows at the control center were huge. You might think you know what huge windows look like, but you don't. These things were literally the size of buildings, stretching upwards along the entire height of the monolith. Part of me wondered how that could possibly be considered structurally sound, but the rest of me was far too busy staring down at the Earth before me. I had always heard that astronauts had considered doing spacewalks in Earth's orbit to be the best moments of their lives. While looking down from a space station wasn't really the same thing, at that moment I could believe it.

In fact I had spent almost the whole of the past hour just staring at Earth. With my body I hadn't really felt the need to take a shower, and my body size and proportions had made finding clothes that fit impossible. I could have tried shifting into a form that would have worked, but to be honest my current armored humanoid form was ironically closer to human than any of my more direct attempts. As such, I just decided to forgo clothes completely and spend my time gazing at a planet from orbit.

 _It looks the same_ , I thought to myself as I saw the United States start to become visible. I'm not sure why I found that odd. I guess I figured that something that was not really my home shouldn't look so similar.

I almost didn't notice when someone joined me, and I turned my head to find Koriand'r looking down at the planet next to me. Looked like she had changed into a midriff-bearing tank top and shorts combination. I gave her a small smile. "Welp, that's Earth. Or at least an Earth."

She glanced at me before she looked back down. "It… looks like a lovely planet."

The smile slid off my face at that. Something was definitely bothering her, but I had no idea how to breach the topic. I wasn't great at this sort of thing at the best of times, and now… 'Hey is something bothering you, I mean, aside from being more or less exiled from your home?'

I was saved from making a choice as Batman arrived soon after. "Let's go. I've already informed your teammates that you will be arriving." And without another word he turned and started walking towards the far wall, which seemed to have several high tech archways imbedded in them.

As Koriand'r and I followed after, I asked "So, how are we getting down to Earth?"

"The League uses a teleportation system called Zeta Tubes. It allows connection between terminals on any point on the globe."

I felt a small amount of concern with that. "Wait, this doesn't dissemble us and put us back together on the other end, does it? Or just make copies of us and destroys the original?"

He cast a glance back at me before he reached a terminal and started typing. "No. Zeta Beams work in a similar manner to wormholes. Structure and continuity are kept intact. I doubt the League would use them if that was not the case." The archway in front of us started to make a large humming sound, and as I saw parts in the back start to spin up a golden light filled the entire apparatus. Without preamble Batman walked into the light and vanished.

Koriand'r and I glanced at each other before I took a deep breath and walked into the teleport, both giddy at how awesome this was and terrified that something would go horribly wrong. I touched the energy and-

" _Recognized: Batman, 0-2. Recognized: Guest, D-0-1. Recognized: Guest, D-0-2._ "

The mechanical voice chimed for each of us as we stepped out of the golden light of the Zeta Tube and into a literally cavernous hall, where the earth-brown walls ached up a good 60 feet above our head, with a strange metal flat cone structure hanging from the ceiling in the middle. There were also two people standing in the center of the circular hall, but it took me a few moments to get my bearings. The sensation of being teleported was novel. It was very… tingly.

Batman snapped me out of my thoughts as he began to talk, not slowing his stride in the slightest. "This is Mount Justice, located in Happy Harbor, Rhode Island. It used to be the League headquarters until we moved to the Watchtower, and now it is the headquarters for your team. You two will be living here, along with two more your teammates."

"What about the others?" Koriand'r asked. "Why do they not live here as well? Also, how many of us will there be?"

"Including yourself, the team will number seven members. The remaining three have their own arrangements." We stopped in front of the pair of figures waiting for us . "Miss Martian, Superboy, this is Jacob and Koriand'r. They'll be joining the team."

I took a second to look over the two teens in front of me. Superboy was a tall, well-muscled youth in a black Superman tee-shirt and jeans, and his resemblance to Superman was obvious. His stance was very different from the older man's though. Superman had faced me with an open and friendly posture, but his was currently closed off with his arms folded over his chest, a slight frown on his face as he looked us over. Miss Martian on the other hand was almost the opposite; the girl regarded us with a pleasant, almost giddy smile, and I would have easily mistaken her for a normal red-headed teenager in a skirt and blouse if not for the fact that her skin was green.

 _Am I joining this world's Teen Titans?_ I thought to myself. After a beat I stepped in, holding my hand out to Superboy. "It's a pleasure to be working with you."

He seemed almost taken aback by the gesture, as if he wasn't sure I was being genuine or not. After a few seconds he took my hand. "Uh, thanks… I guess."

Miss Martian on the other hand extended her arm out towards me enthusiastically, fully extended. "Hi! My real name's M'gann M'orrz, but you can call me Megan." She said as I shook her hand. "It's nice to meet you, and I look forward to working with you too!"

My god this girl was adorably chipper.

Koriand'r seemed to snap out of whatever state she was in and catch some of the other girl's excitement as she said "I as well am excited to be fighting alongside you. May this company be righteous and victorious!"

Batman's grunt caught our attention. "I expect you to be settled in and ready soon, and when I give you orders I expect you to follow them. Am I understood?" We nodded, and without another word the man strode back to the Zeta Tube.

"He's a bit more… severe then I thought he'd be." I commented to no one in particular as he teleported out. I know Batman was supposed to be the super serious one of the League, but I thought… well, I only just met him. Maybe he has a 'less growly' mode for people he actually likes.

M'gann cringed a little before she said "Yeah, but Uncle J'onn says that's just the way he is, don't take it personally." She paused awkwardly for a moment before she changed the subject. "So! That's an interesting suit you're wearing. Did you make it yourself?"

I hid a grimace. "Ah, no, it's not a suit, it's just me. I was experimented on by aliens and this is the result."

She looked aghast at that. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to- I mean you look-, I've just never seen humans that look like you."

Koriand'r spoke up. "Actually, though he is human and I too was experimented on, I am not human to begin with. I am Tamaranian."

The poor girl somehow wilts further. "I- I'm sorry, I just assumed that because he's human and you looked human but – Hello Megan! – there are lots of things on this planet alone that look human but aren't and-"

"It is fine, it is fine." Koriand'r cut her off. "From what I have heard there is a surprising amount of physical similarities between many alien races in the galaxy." She pauses and titled her head. "Though I am curious why you would not think that yourself seeing as how 'human' you look as well."

The girl shifted and looked away. "Ah, well, Martians are shapeshifters, we don't normally look human. We don't look that different, though!" She insisted. Seeing an opportunity to once again change the subject, she carried on. "We can also use telekinesis and telepathy, like this."

All of a sudden I felt… something, like a light buzz going though me, and as soon as it started it stopped as M'gann gripped her head in pain. The other two stood up straighter and Superboy said "Wait, what do you mean telepathy?"

I kept my focus on the green girl. "Are you alright? What happened?"

"I…" M'gann started to say before she shook her head and started over. "I tried to speak to you telepathically, but I got some kind of feedback. Your brain is…" she trailed off, at a loss for words.

"Huh. To be honest I'm surprised that you got anything at all. I've been told I don't have a brain. My body's made entirely out of nanites."

"Wait, you're a machine? I thought you were human."

"Not exactly… it's complicated." I said. I really needed a term to describe what I was. I couldn't really say I was human, but I wasn't really a metahuman either. I'd have to think about it. "In short, I'm biomechanical."

"Oh! A bit like Martian technology!" She said, and I perked up as she explained. "All of Martian technology is biologically based. I actually have a bioship here with me." She paused. "But, all of our technology can accept and be controlled by telepathy. So, why can't I connect to you properly?"

"Most likely that I'm just 'incompatible' in my current configuration." I replied "Vacuum tube and transistor based computers are both Turing complete, but you're not going to get the two to communicate to each other directly without some specialized hardware." A thought occurred to me. "Say, your bioship has to have to physical part of it that works with your telepathy. One of my abilities is that I can copy technology that I consume. I don't want to harm your ship of course, but if you happen to have a spare telepathic ansible lying around…"

M'gann cupped her chin in thought. "Not as such, but bioships are capable of regeneration in case of damage, and their telepathic functions are a part of that. I'm not certain, but I may be able to coax her into growing what you need separately."

"I'm willing to try if you are."

She nodded before she started smiling again. "Anyway, I'm glad that you two are here. I only met the others once, so it's just been me and Superboy for now."

Koriand'r tilted her head at that. "If we are to fight as a group, should we not also live together?"

"I guess they do things differently here on Earth." M'gann said. "But then, the team only just formed, so maybe we'll come together after we start working. I, I've been learning cooking so that we can all eat together too!"

This caused the Tamaranian to perk up. "That is joyous news! Nothing brings people together like the prospect of a feast!"

M'gann was so encouraged by this that her feet left the ground a little as she smiled. "I can show you what I've done so far. I'm mean it's not much, and we are already past dinner, but I'm trying really hard because I haven't really gotten out much and it seems like a good way to make friends."

"Then we shall be the best of friends!" Koriand'r exclaimed and the two of them started to float away towards a nearby hallway, presumably towards the kitchen.

Me and Superboy watched them go before we cast sidelong glances at one another. "No offense, but it's going to take a little longer than that for us to become BFFs."

The teen snorted at that. "Whatever. See you around." He said before he wandered off. I stood there in the center of the cavernous hall, alone for the first time since I had started my escape. For a long moment I wondered what to do with myself.

That moment passed quickly though, and I started to move as there was something I realized I needed.

* * *

The reason that most pictures of space are so much more interesting and colorful than when you simply look up with a normal telescope is because a lot of them are long exposures with certain wavelength shown or removed. So even though the human eye can get a pretty view of the night sky, it is never quite as spectacular as people tended to think space looked. But as I stared up into the night from the top of the mountain with a sense of wonder, I could say that was no longer the case for me.

I had found my way outside because I had wanted to simply be out in nature after being cooped up inside for so long, but when I realized the hour and how clear the sky was I decided to climb the mountain. It was almost ridiculously easy for me to do so now, my ability to scale sheer walls combined with my new strength made short work of my ascent. And when I got up there and looked up at the heavens, I almost reflexively started to shift the spectrum my eyes could perceive wider, taking in more light and detail than I had before.

It was difficult to maintain at first, the sheer sensory overload almost driving me to my knees, but after some practice I got the hang of it. Adding infrared and ultraviolet light to my vision made the heavens seem to open up in a way I had never thought possible. It wasn't just beautiful, but also peaceful. So much so that I could spend the whole night up here, and let all of my worries fade away for just a while…

"There you are." A voice caused me to turn, and I saw Koriand'r floating through the air towards me. With my vision still altered, I got a spectacular view of how the energy flowed upwards and through her body, swirling in patterns and motes. I felt the disorientation start to get worse before I snapped it back to normal as she said "I had wondered where you had gone off to."

I paused before I answered "I just wanted to be outside." She nodded as she floated down next to me and… stood there. She looked like she wanted to say something, but wasn't sure what.

"What do you-"/"Why are you-"

We both stopped awkwardly and I gestured for her to talk. After a moment's pause she said "Did… you know who I was? When you meet me?"

 _Ah, this conversation_ , I thought. Well, I guess we were going to have to have it at some point. "I didn't know it was you until my eyes started working, but yeah. That was also the moment I knew what universe I was in. And…" I sighed. "I'm sorry about Komand'r. I was in shock from learning where I was and elbow deep in an alien computer, and didn't remember how that was going to go down until… Maybe if I had been faster it could have gone differently."

However, she shook her head. "My sister made her choice, and I am sure that our escape went as well as it could have." She looked back at me. "I wish to know what you know about me, about my future."

"That… might not be as useful as want. This universe isn't like the stories I've read, and I've said there are several different versions of those stories."

She hesitated before she said "And in how many of these stories do I get to return home?"

Argh, why did she have to ask me that. I really didn't want to give her the answer, but I won't do that to her. "…One that I know of. I think that the Citadel was either pushed back or wasn't the issue in that one." Of course the only time I saw you go back was when your sister tried to marry you to a slug man, but we'll deal with that when we get to it.

She looked at the ground and her fists clenched. I put my hands up. "Hey that doesn't mean anything. Your future's not set. You'll get through this."

"…if you say that your knowledge is unreliable, then how can you be sure about that?" I opened my mouth, but she continued. "What do you know about my past? How I ended up in that space station."

I hesitated. "Tamaran had been at war with the Citadel for about 100 years before your sister betrayed everyone. She gave them tactical knowledge that let them all but win the war. As part of the truce, your father handed you over to them. You were held by them for several years before-" I stopped before I started again. "Your sister ordered your execution, but then both of you ended up with the Psions. I can't remember if you were handed over or the Psions took you, but…"

She made a small sound. "That is accurate." The silence stretched between us for several seconds before she said very softly. "And… do you know what happened to me just before we were taken?"

My own fists clenched at my sides out of guilt as I looked away from her, useless as the gesture was with my blindsight. "Yes, and I shouldn't. I shouldn't know something like that without you telling me. It's not right."

She shifted her weight slightly before she said "I killed the ones responsible. That should be the end of it, I should be able to put it behind me." She didn't sound entirely certain of that. "I just… didn't think I would have to let anyone know about it so soon."

"If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine." I said. "I understand."

Koriand'r gave me a small nod before she said "But, it sounds like your knowledge is fairly accurate. So, if you say that things for me will be fine…" she trailed off.

I'm not good at conversations, as a general rule. I'm not good at feeling people out, knowing what to talk about and what not to. Its lead me to generally avoid talking to new people. But on the rare occasions when things get serious and someone opens up to me, though I may not know the perfect thing to say, I know how to talk from the heart.

"I don't need some stupid comic book to tell me anything about you." I said, catching her off guard. "You're not some ink on a page to me, so forget all that and I'll tell you what I do know. I know that you are the kind of woman who would try to save her sister, even after all of the horrible pain she caused you. I know that you put your trust in me and freed me when you could have left me behind. And I know that the first thing you did when you arrived on a new planet was decide to make it a better place."

I gave her a small smile. "I know that you're stronger than what happened to you. And no matter what happens, you're going to be spectacular."

She stared at me for a second before a beaming smile lit up her expression. "Thank you." She said quietly. We stood there in silence for a long while before her expression changed to one of concern. "And what about you?"

I arched an eyebrow at that. "What about me?"

"How are you adjusting to all this?"

I waved my hand dismissively. "Oh, it's fine. I mean, pretty big shock finding fiction not quite so fictional I guess, but I'm adapting."

"..are you sure? Because much of the time I see yourself you seem to be staring off at something, as if something is bothering you."

I shrugged and looked to the side. "That's just the way I am. You'll get used to it. I'm telling you I'm fine."

However, she moved closer and put her hand on my shoulder. "Only if you are certain…"

I started to feel my irritation spike at her insistence, and moved to bush her off, but my hand stopped when I saw the look she was giving me. I… argh, that's just cheating. I didn't really feel like talking about it, whether because I didn't think it was worth it or didn't see the point, but I couldn't exactly dismiss her after that. After a long moment I let out a sigh and said. "I can't sleep."

"Oh. Well, that is understandable considering how much you've been through recent-"

"No, I mean I literally can't sleep." I interrupted. "I didn't do it the whole time I was captured, even when I tried. I mean, I guess I always wanted to have to sleep less, but not at the cost of being unable to dream."

I started to pace away from her. "I can't really feel that much either, except for pain. It's all muted, or feels alien. I can't feel warm or cold. I can't taste anything either, so what's the point of food anymore? I don't seem to have my original brain, so I don't know if I'm actually the original Jacob Morgan or a copy that was uploaded to this new body. And to top it off I lost my fucking-!"

I cut myself off before I could start, and I looked out over the ocean. "I keep telling myself it'll be fine, they're just minor things I'll have to live with for now, they're not that bad compared to your new superpowers. But it's not working. I might be getting used to it, but part of me is scared what that means. What if the only way to cope with this is to lose my humanity bit by bit?"

A bitter laugh escaped my lips. "And yet that's still not the worst part. I don't know if I'll ever see my family, my home again. My parents, my brothers. I've tried to tell myself that it will all work out, but I'm not sure how." My mouth twisted a little and I gave Koriand'r a sidelong glance as she stepped next to me. "But then, you know exactly what I am talking about."

She didn't say anything, and I felt a little hollow as I muttered. "It's weird. I'm used to keeping to myself, but now that I'm here, it's the first time I feel truly alone."

"You are not alone!"

I almost jumped from the force of her voice, and I spun to face her. Her expression had changed to something far more determined as she stared back at me. "As you said, I know your loss! Our fates have intertwined, and you need not bear this alone! We have fought side by side and we shall do so again, against whatever storm may come!"

I had never had anyone talk to me so passionately before that moment, and though I was sure it was all in my mind, I felt a warmth pass through my chest at her words. My lips curved upwards, and I found my hand reaching out to her. "So, the two of us against the world, huh?"

She reached out in kind and took my hand. "If need be, we will stand together."

I looked up at the stars, then back to Kori, smiling fully for the first time in days. "Together it is then."

=====A=====


	6. 2-1

=====A=====

It was a week before anything actually happened, but that week was exactly what I needed.

For starters, I had some time to explore my new home. And I have to say, though there may be some shitty parts to my current situation, living in a superhero mountain fortress is pretty goddamn cool. The main room I had first entered in doubled as both a Zeta Tube hub and the main briefing area, as apparently that massive cylinder on the ceiling was actually a supercomputer with a holographic interface. It felt a little weird typing on a non-solid keyboards that floated right in front of me, but I was willing to put up with it as the machine basically functioned almost exactly how I figured the bat-computer would, with real time news updates, extensive databases on a number of subjects, and fantastic internet speeds. Beyond that there was also the sea bay, another massive room that had a water dock that led to a concealed exit in the side of the mountain. It had probably been used for cargo in past, though currently it was used as a space for M'gann's bioship.

Beyond that, there were also a number of amenities. There was a common room, game room, fully stocked kitchen, library, gym, medlab… pretty much anything you would expect from such a place. Too be honest though, I started having the most fun when I started getting into all the nooks and air ducts the place seemed to be littered with. Air ducts which, interestingly enough, were more than large enough for an adult man to fit through. I thought this was weird for approximately 2 second before I realized who probably designed this place.

And my belief was confirmed as short while later when, in scurrying about a particularly out of the way set of air ducts in my xenomorph form, I happened upon an old cache of Batman's back-up gear. Score!

Speaking of Batman, I had repeated contact with him over the course of the week, both in person and over the phone. One of the first things we did was go over every last bit of DC lore I could remember, no matter how trivial or weird. It was a long and awkward process, but the man didn't want to miss any piece of information so long as there was an even a slight chance that it could be useful later. For the most part, the universe I had found myself in was sufficiently different that none of what I knew was immediately useful, save for one thing: Intergang. I was able to tell him about their connection to Apokolips, and how we did _not_ want to get Darkseid's attention if at all possible. I wasn't sure what he was going to do with the information about the New Gods, but I think I managed to impress the severity of it on him.

Beyond that, there was also a discussion of what exactly my role as 'support' in the team was going to be. The short, official answer was that I was going to hang back during missions and act in reserve, only acting in support roles in combat unless something required my specific skill set (Koriand'r proved that she had combat training, so this was restricted to only myself). However, I was able to read between the lines of what Batman was telling me and realized there was something else he wanted me to do: be a… mature influence on the rest of the team.

I never explicitly told him my age, but I did tell him that I was working as a programmer in New York, and I was sure that he knew I was not just fresh out of college. As such, he figured I was likely a good deal more calm and measured than the rest of my team. Not sure if he was right, but the other person who had that duty was Red Tornado, would would be staying in the Mountain to act as our 'den mother', and he wouldn't be going out on missions with us. A moderating presence out in the field could still be useful. Of course, that would require me to be a tad more social than I was used to; not a complaint, but it was not a skill I frequently used. I wasn't worried about Kori, as I got along with her surprisingly well, but the others…

I didn't have that much knowledge about my other two roommates. All I knew about Miss Martian was that she existed in the comics… and that was it. Hopefully that wouldn't come to bite me in the ass later. Superboy I knew a bit more about: he was a half-human clone of Superman, and he was really insistent that his power was 'tactile telekinesis', something only he ever had. Apparently that's just what you get when you mix human and Kyptonian DNA. I can't remember who cloned him in the comics, but in this universe it was Cadmus with the intention of making him an anti-Superman weapon. My remaining teammates had found him and broke him out of containment, convincing him that killing Superman wasn't a great life goal. Or as least that's what I managed to gather from the few conversations I had with him.

Superboy and I… got along, I suppose. He preferred to be alone most of the time, but he didn't seem bothered by my presence that much either. He also seemed a little moody much of the time, so I didn't really try to engage him in conversation too often. I knew I would have to change that at some point, but for the time being the two of us had a sort of quiet understanding without having to socialize. At least until one of the red heads dragged us out of whatever corner of the Mountain we happened to be in to gather us all for dinner.

Speaking of which, I had been joking to the other male earlier about the BFF thing, but my god did those two girls bond at a frightening speed. Both of them were incredibly friendly and upbeat, and quite frankly far more sociable that either Superboy or I. For the past week the two they had damn near been inseparable as they indulged in immersing themselves in human culture and customs. Mostly that involved watching a lot of TV, media, and other bits of pop culture. I also noticed that while M'gann seemed to favor more modern styles, Kori had developed a taste for the 80's. And prog rock.

I'm not sure why that surprised me.

Of course, the two could only get so much Earth culture from inside the Mountain, and were eager to get out. Unfortunately, it turned out that this base was supposed to be a secret base, so we couldn't be seen wandering about the area lest it draw attention (at least in the case of myself and Kori). Plus, the League wanted to establish a proper cover for us before we started popping up anywhere in the world via Zeta Tubes. Honestly I think they were being a bit paranoid in that respect; Superheroes just pop out of nowhere all the time. I was hoping they would finish whatever they needed soon, because while I'm perfectly fine staying indoors for long stretches of time, Kori was getting tired of it pretty fast.

That all aside, that week indoors also gave me the time I needed to experiment with my powers. Up until that point I had mostly been guessing as to what I could actually do, but after that week… well, I was guessing slightly less, but it was still an improvement.

It was difficult to analyze the nanites I was made out of without the help of Lantern Stewart, but the Mountain was equipped with enough advanced technology that I was able to make due (with a great deal of instruction from Red Tornado on how to work the various devices in the Tech Lab). Ultimately the data dump that Stewart gave me from his ring was the most helpful thing I had, but after some poking around on my own I had discovered something I don't think he noticed. Namely, how my nanites held together.

I had assumed that they were simply gripping on to one another, and while they were doing that, it wasn't the whole story. Turns out that they were also partially held together by Van der Waals forces, the attractive force that can attract atoms and molecules together that arise from quantum level interactions. It was the same thing that allowed spiders to climb wall, and probably what I was leveraging to do the same thing. It also likely why those electric shocks the Psions kept giving me were so debilitating; they were disrupting the thing that was holding me together. I would have to look out for that in the future.

A more in-depth analysis of my shapeshifting ability helped me get a handle on how it worked. My body couldn't separate its parts too much due to how the nanites held together and communicated, but other than that I could assume almost any simple shape I wanted with ease. More complicated things though were… odd. My body tried to shape everything it was changing into at once, and finer details took longer than simple ones. This resulted in slowing the entire process down unless I focused on simple things first followed by more and more levels of detail. Which was a useful skill to practice, but probably wouldn't come into play in combat anytime soon, as I was going to focus on function over form in those cases. Plus any tech I've eaten seems to shape without running into this problem. Was I storing a blueprint somewhere or…?

Speaking of eating technology, I had managed to get my hands on quite a bit during the intervening time, though most of it was mundane. I had put the request in to Batman to get me… well, everything he could. His response was that he wanted to see if I could handle what I had before he started handing me every last bit of super-tech that happened to be lying around, especially if I wasn't completely sure what the consequences of my consuming them would be. Which I suppose was reasonable, though it didn't stop me from feeling a bit put out. That said, he did get an extra set of almost everything that was already in the Mountain. That included everything that was in the medbay, as well as a few types of generators and scanners. And… most of it wasn't as helpful as I wanted.

Without the ability to replicate its software, a normal computer was basically just a calculator for me. I mean, it was great that after eating a laptop I could perform mathematical calculations easily, but I wanted to be able to browse the internet with my mind. It was a similar story with most of the other technology I consumed; if it relied on software to function in any meaningful way, I could only get parts of the device, like sensors or emitters. On the other hand if the tech was all most all hardware, like speakers and radios, I could replicate it just fine.

I needed to find a way around this somehow, even if it means having to write my own software. I was certain that I was capable of it (after all, how was my consciousness running otherwise?), I just had to figure out what a machine code for a swarm of biomechanical nanites looked like. Unfortunately, while I actually do have training in the right field for doing that, I feared the task would be beyond me. I wasn't a hyper-cognitive.

Yet.

Alright, maybe I was being a little optimistic, but there had to be some way, shape, or form that I could use to augment my intelligence. I was still an amateur at all this but I was willing to put in the hours to learn the hard way if it came down to it. Practice had helped, after all.

Still, the area I had the least amount of success with was making myself look human again. For the time being I had seemed to hit 'peak human' with my armored form. And simply removing the plates didn't really help. For one thing I didn't actually have muscles underneath them, so my body's proportions looked malformed and rigid, not actually flexing as I moved my limbs. For another, the softer 'skin' I was able to make was still too rough and textured, looking akin to exposed muscle. Given that it didn't help improve my sense of touch either, I decide to just stay armored for the time being.

Which wasn't to say I was giving up on that front. My skill with shaping my body had been improving, and I had an idea for something that might help. I… hadn't really wanted to try it before, but I knew that I would probably have to get around to finding out if it would work at some point. Which lead me to my current position.

"… You want me to get you a corpse." The image of Batman said flatly from the holographic screen. His tone was usually flat, but I was pretty sure he was making an effort this time considering how the sound refused to echo even a little in the cavernous main hall.

"A cadaver." I corrected. "Preferably male, age 18-25, physically fit. One marked as an organ donor would work just fine, as I am after the skin, musculature, and nervous system." I also wanted the endocrine system, but I didn't have great hopes of that being intact after any reasonable amount of time being dead.

"You didn't say that your replication ability worked on biological constructs."

"To be honest I'm not sure that it does," I replied. "But the only way I can know for sure is if I try. And since I'm not keen on trying it on a living person…"

"Have you considered trying to use it on animal cadavers first?"

I hesitated. "I… would prefer a human, if that's alright. I'm not sure how much I would be able to get from an animal."

"Regardless, acquiring a human body is a much more sensitive and complicated task than getting an animal one." He said firmly. "Try it on an animal first. If that doesn't provide the results you're looking for, we can talk later to find another option." And with that the connection dropped and the screen closed.

I frowned as I looked at empty air. He had a point, I guess, I just… if it partially worked with say a pig, I had a feeling that Batman would try to convince me that it was good enough and not actually get a real human body. I was probably just getting paranoid though, as-

" _Recognized: Aqualad. B-0-2._ "

I turned in time to see the golden light fade from one of the Zeta Tubes and I spot a teenager in a jacket and slacks walking into the hall. He was a tall, dark skinned youth with short cropped blonde hair. At first glance he seemed perfectly normal, but after a second or so you could see the differences compared to a human; the slightly elongated proportion, the slightly too big eyes. Oh, and the clearly noticeable gills running up his neck.

And yet somehow the first thought I had when I looked at him was _There are black Atlantians?_ I hope that wasn't racist.

He spotted me quickly and walked over to me, offering a nod. "You must be one of the new arrivals joining the team. I am Aqualad, but my true name is Kaldur'ahm. You may call me Kaldur."

I smile as I extend my hand. "Pleasure to meet you. I'm Jacob."

He shakes it before he hesitates for a moment, uncertain of himself. "I am sorry if this is rude, but I wasn't told much about you in particular. I heard that you are supposed to be a native of this planet…"

"And yet I look anything but." I finished for him. "It's fine, I imagine that I'm going to have to explain this a lot. I was human up until a few days ago, then I was abducted by aliens and turned into this. For now I've decided to go with the term post-human." It seemed a more appropriate term for describing me than meta-human in any case. Plus it was a Wildstorm reference.

He tilted his head to the side. "An… interesting designation, though I suppose I can see the logic. That aside, I am a little surprised that Batman assigned you to us. I would have thought that a new superhero would have preferred to work alone at first."

"Well, not me." I admitted. "I am literally just starting out at this whole superhero thing, so I'm glad for any help or instruction I can get. I'm pretty sure that's why I was placed on this team in the first place."

It was slight, but I saw Kaldur's mouth press into a thin line at that comment. "Because this is where they put the 'inexperienced' ones." He said, a hint of bitterness in his tone.

Before I could ask about that, Kori flew into the main room, likely drawn by the sound of the Zeta Tube being used. "Oh, someone new!" She said before she settled down next to me. "Are you one of our other teammates?"

Kaldur paused as he looked her up and down before responding "Yes. I am Aqualad, also known as Kaldur. And you are…?"

"I am Koriand'r of Tamaran." She paused to look him over in turn. "I have not spent long studying the races of this world, but you are an… Atlantian, are you not?"

He nodded. "Yes, though there are many different morphologies that can make the same claim. I am one of many that call the sea home."

"Ah, fascinating to have so many different kinds of sapients on a single planet." She said. "In any case, I am glad to finally meet you, comrade Kaldur. Hopefully it won't be long before we meet the remaining members of our team and we can finally be about our purpose of vanquishing evil."

A slight smile graced Kaldur's lips. "I agree. In fact, that is why I am here, and why Robin and Kid Flash should be arriving shortly. We wish to see if Red Tornado has any assignments for us yet."

I hadn't exactly been yearning for action quite like the two next to me, but I did feel a bit of excited tension at that prospect. Training was all well and good, but some point it was time to step outside and save America by beating people up. "Alright, but you'll have to wait a bit. Red Tornado went out on League business this morning. I think he'll be back soon though."

"Hmm, perhaps we can see his location now…" Kaldur said before he stepped forward, summoning a holographic interface with a gesture. A few key strokes later and we were presented with an image of the Eastern seaboard, and a red blip moving up the coast. "Not long, he should be here in about ten minutes."

So, we waited in the main hall, and at some point we were joined by M'gann and Superboy (I did technically know his name, but since he hadn't given it to me himself I had to make sure I only used his title). We mostly kept the topics light, and Kori and I deferred Kaldur's questions about us until the others arrive so that we would only have to explain things once. Sooner than I would have thought, and just when the red dot on the screen reached the Mountain, I heard the Zeta Tubes whir to life.

" _Recognized: Robin. B-0-1. Recognized: Kid Flash. B-0-3._ "

The light from the Zeta Tubes flashed once again, and I caught the tail end of a conversation. "…all I'm saying is, it feels like they're trying to take the team away from us." The redhead remarked as he glanced over at the dark haired boy wearing sunglass. "How can we say the team is ours if the League just keeps adding their own people?"

The boy tilted his head with a smirk. "So, you wanna kick all the new comers off? Including Megan?"

The red head held up his hands. "Whoa whoa, let's not get crazy here. Megan is cool. But who's to say that these new guys are-" he cut himself off as he finally noticed all of us standing there looking at him.

Particularly, he noticed Koriand'r in her casual tank top and shorts combination as she stepped forward, her hands on her hips. "Oh? What is this 'cool' and why don't you think we have it?"

"…Never mind, this is the greatest team ever."

I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. I didn't need confirmation to recognize a Wally West when I saw one. I stepped forward and offered my hand to him before he could say anything. "Hi, I'm Jacob. Pleasure to be working with you two."

He gave a start as he turned to look at me before he regained his composure. "Oh, uh, yeah! I'm Kid Flash, this is Robin. And you… are really not what I was expecting."

"Way to make him feel welcome, KF." Robin said sardonically. "Don't mind him, you're just a little… bigger than we thought."

 _And you are a lot smaller than I thought_ , I mused as I looked down on the boy who I could only assume was 13 years old. I knew that I was going to be working with teens, but for a moment I actually started to feel a little uncomfortable with the idea of letting this 'boy' get into combat.

"Why do you always seem to insist on shaking hands at first meetings, Jacob?" Kori suddenly asked. "I've seen you do this several times now."

I turned to her. "It's how my father raised me. A handshake is both a greeting and a sign of respect, and the simple act of contact can help the two establish a connection going forward."

She folded her arms across her chest. "Then why haven't you offered to shake my hand yet?"

"Because it's well established that the only thing more respectful thing than a handshake is fighting back-to-back against horde of monsters." I replied. "Since that's how we met, a handshake would be insufficient now."

"Oh. Alright then." She said with a nod, completely satisfied by my explanation.

Wally went to speak again, no doubt to Kori, when I heard the sound of the large mechanical entryway that made up our front door opening. Robin must have had pretty good ears too, because at the same moment he perked up. "That must be Red Tornado! Come on, I'm itching for some action!" He said before he scurried off in that direction.

The rest of us looked at each other before we followed. Wonder what my first mission will be?

=====A=====


	7. 2-2

=====A=====

As it turned out, the answer was nothing at all.

"Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility." Red Tornado's synthetic voice echoed oddly in the entry hall as he stared the lot of us down. Which he could do surpassingly well for having only darkened depressions in his face in place of eyes.

Robin didn't particularly care for that answer. "But it's been over a week, and nothing-!"

"You will be tested soon enough." The android interrupted as he raised a placating hand. "For the time being, simply enjoy each other's company."

Kaldur wasn't happy about this either. "This team is not a social club." He said sternly.

"No. But I am told that social interaction is an important team building exercise."

 _He really needs to polish his social skills_ , I thought to myself at his mechanical delivery. I mean, I was pretty sure it wasn't really his fault, but Red Tornado's tone came off as very patronizing. Still, even now I found the obviously mechanical man's mannerisms and personality fascinating for what he was. I had actually done a bit of AI work back in my home reality, so meeting a fully sapient AI was a special kind of exciting for me. The man himself unfortunately was more versed in his own hardware than software and couldn't give me too many technical details on how he was sapient, but the conversations I had with him were enlightening nonetheless.

What he had just said though made me think of something. "Are we going to be doing some actual team based training at some point?"

Red Tornado turned to me. "That would be Black Canary's responsibility, but there is nothing stopping you from carrying out such exercises at your own discretion. For the time being, you can keep yourself busy by familiarizing yourself with the Mountain." And without another word he simply walked past us.

My mouth twists a little as I watch him go. "What do you think I've been doing for the past week…" I muttered to myself.

"Does he really think we're falling for this?" Robin asked angrily.

"Oh, I'll find-" M'gann started before she glanced at me and seemed to remember something. "Oh, right. Red Tornado's a machine. I cannot read his mind."

"And I don't think he'd appreciate it if you somehow did." I remarked with a raised eyebrow, and she flushed a darker green. I knew it wasn't her fault considering she came from a culture where everyone was telepathic, but over the week M'gann had reflexively used (or tried to use) telepathy during conversations to read our surface thoughts a couple of times. She had learned to stop trying with me pretty quick, and Kori seemed to find it more novel than anything else, but Superboy… well, there was a bit of an incident. Apparently his conditioning had been performed via a telepathic synthetic species called G-Gnomes, and the experience had not left him endeared to 'stuff getting in his head'. It took the better part of the day for me and Kori to get him talking to her again. Either way, I had tried to impress on her not to do that so casually, though it seemed she had a ways to go.

Wally, of course, was of a different opinion. "Hey, it might have been worth a shot." He leaned in close with a grin. "Know what I'm thinking right now?"

"We all know what you're thinking now." Robin quipped.'

"Hey!"

Kaldur didn't add to this, instead pressing his mouth into a thin line. "And now we tour the club house…" he muttered.

I understood the teen's annoyance, but it caused me to feel annoyed in turn. "Have you guys seriously known about this place for a week and not even bothered to visit it once?"

"Hey, we came here! You know, that one time…" Wally trailed off.

"Uh huh." I said flatly. "Maybe the League would have actually given you guys a mission if you had bothered to acquaint yourself with the mountain fortress headquarters they gave you. Or even just talked to your new teammates, which you knew about for equally as long."

That… came out harsher then I had meant it to, but it had been something had been bothering me all week. Not in the least of which because M'gann was so keen on making new friends and they had sort of ignored her. Still, this hadn't been the first time I had been more assertive than usual in conversation, and the trend was starting to worry me a little. What was causing it?

Kaldur, Wally, and Robin all looked sheepish for a few seconds before the Atlantian let out a sigh. "Perhaps you have a point. I apologize."

"It's ok!" M'gann chipped in. "Just, you know, come over more."

There was a pause before I clapped my hands together. "Welp, I think I've explored this place the most, so I guess I'll be leading the tour." I turned and stared walking down the hall. "Keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times, and do not stray off the path, lest you be eaten by a Grue."

* * *

It took about half an hour to show off everything I had found in the base (it did take up the entire mountain after all). I had even managed to find a few passageways and rooms that my roommates hadn't known about. Robin had shown a brief interest when I had suggested that we also tour the secret tunnels and air duct network, but everyone else had been far less enthused by the prospect.

Eventually we found ourselves in the massive cargo bay as I wrapped things up. "All in all, the Mountain has everything you need for the perfect Superhero headquarters and/or home away from home. Though for some of us it's just home." I paused for a moment. "Honestly make me wonder why the League doesn't use it."

It was Kaldur that answered me. "The Mountain's secret location was… compromised."

I blinked at that and I turned to look at him. "Wait, I was told that we were supposed to keep our presence here a secret. How are we going to do that if everyone knows there's a base here?"

Robin waved it off. "The bad guys know that we know they know, so they'd never think to look here."

I scowled. "That's a terrible assumption. Security through obscurity only works until it doesn't, and we've technically already lost ours. I guarantee you the moment that people notice that our team exists they're going to check here first."

"I think you're being a little paranoid." Wally said skeptically.

"I think I'm being practical." I retorted. I'd have to see if Batman was willing to invest in more internal defenses for the Mountain, if and when an incursion happened (because I honestly couldn't remember a superhero headquarters that wasn't invaded at some point). If not, I'd probably have to do something on my own. Not that I had the faintest clue of how to build things like that.

Before I could think on it more Superboy spoke up. "I smell smoke."

M'gann started. "My cookies!" She yelled before she flew off towards the kitchen.

* * *

The Martian sighed as she floated a tray of blackened cookies out of the oven, setting them down on the nearby island as the rest of us filtered in and gathered around. "I was trying out Ramie Jones's recipe from episode seventeen of- never mind" she said.

I saw Robin arch an eyebrow from behind his sunglasses. "They don't seem to mind." He said as he pointed at Wally and Koriand'r, both of whom were devouring the burnt cookies with alarming speed. The two paused as they say us looking at them, and Wally swallowed his mouthful. "I, uh, have a serious metabolism."

"And I like the flavor of the burnt outside." Kori said cheerfully. I had to suppress a snort at that. Turned out that Tamaranians were Omnivores, capitalization intended. She could metabolize practically anything organic, and they had the taste buds to reflect that. Subsequently, dinner on nights when it was her turn to cook was… interesting. For everyone with functioning taste buds anyway.

Wally was gazing at Kori like he had found his soulmate, so he almost missed M'gann saying "Oh, well, I guess I make more."

"It was nice of you to make any." Kaldur commented.

"Thanks Aqualad!"

He paused for a moment before he said. "Now that we are all together, perhaps now is the best time for introductions. Since we will be working together, you can call me Kaldur."

The redhead leaned forward as he followed his friend's lead. "I'm Wally. See, I already trust you girls with my secret ID. Unlike mister dark glasses here." He pointed at Robin. "Batman's forbidden him from telling anyone his real name."

 _But I know it. Probably._ I thought to myself. I had told Batman about Jason Todd and his death, but the superhero said he had never heard of the boy. Which meant that the kid in front of me was most likely a very young Dick Grayson. To be honest if I had guessed without that bit of foreknowledge I probably would have pegged him as Tim Drake, but shows what I know.

"Mine's no secret. It's M'gann M'orrz, but you can call me Megan."

I then noticed that Superboy was starting to get restless next to me, so I shot him a questioning look and asked quietly "Something bothering you?"

He didn't answer right away, but he eventually muttered "Bored. Don't really care about for all this talk about stuff I already know."

I grunted. "Shouldn't be too much longer."

"So…" I heard Wally said as he turned his gaze back towards Kori, his expression and tone attempting to be smooth. "Never did catch your name, sunset."

She turned to look at him. "Yes, introductions. My name is Koriand'r. I came here from the planet Tamaran seeking a new life, and those in the Justice League saw fit to let me serve my new home with this company."

"And we are glad to have you here." Wally said with a grin. "What was wrong with your old planet, found it boring?"

My mouth pressed into a thin line at that, but Kori just sighed. "No, it was a wonderful place, but my home was invaded by a star conquering empire, and is now under their rule. I was captured and imprisoned before I managed to escape. I cannot go back, lest I suffer the same fate."

Wally winced at the landmine he had just stepped on, and Kaldur bowed his head. "I am sorry. It must be very difficult for you."

"I shall endure." Kori replied. "There were those who suffered worse fates than I, and I have the chance to start again."

A sad smile crossed my face and the kitchen was silent for a long moment before Wally decided to change the subject, turning to me. "So, what about you? How did you end up here?"

"With her, actually." I said. "A few days ago I was abducted (I think), and I ended up on the same space station that Kori was on. They did… this to me." I gestured to myself. "Before I could figure out why though Kori managed to break out and freed me along the way. After that I hijacked a ship and we headed to Earth. After we were picked up in orbit the League decided that I could be of use here."

Robin titled his head. "Whoa, that must have been a big change. Does your family even know you're here?"

I felt a small stab of sadness before I said "I… don't really have one to go back to." I said vaguely and left it at that before waved my hand and moved on. "Right now I'm just trying to see what I can do with my present circumstances. An apparently that's become a superhero." I paused before I looked off to the side. "Not exactly the most stirring of motivations for the job now that I think about it, but I guess you're stuck with me."

"You should not talk about yourself like that! I am sure that-" Kori started to say before she stopped, her eyes narrowing at me. "Wait. Are you being the self-deprecating again?"

I sighed before I responded "Yes, I am being the self-deprecating again." Technically I was more underselling myself, but I already had enough trouble explaining my particular sense of humor to her. I knew that I was going to be explaining a lot of my mannerisms to her (and probably the others) in the future to prevent misunderstandings, but now was not the time for it.

She frowned slightly to express her disapproval, but before she could say more Robin just chuckled. "Believe me, I've met superheroes with worse reasons than that." He gestured. "Just stick with us and you'll learn in no time." He paused before he added "That said, what can you do?"

"Well, my body is made out of biomechanical nanites, which gives me the ability to shapeshift." At that, the ridges all over my body grew larger and more pronounced, forming into spiraling patterns and curving blades. I could have shown them my xenomorph form, but I think it would have been a little much at the moment (besides which, I had _plans_ for that reveal, hehehe). "It doesn't seem to be as… complete as Maritain shapeshifting, but it comes with a major benefit. Any technology I consume, I can replicate." For emphasis I shifted one of my arms into a lightning claw and the other into a laser cannon.

Happy as I was with those two things though, I was a little disappointed that I had yet to receive my first shipment of Psion tech down from the Watchtower. I know that the Green Lanterns were probably busy people, but it couldn't take them that long to analyze the damn stuff. Batman would probably make sure I got it before he actually assigned us a mission, but after a week I should probably remind him to be sure.

That said, I wasn't completely out of luck when it came to alien tech. A couple of days after I moved in, M'gann had presented me with a house warming present: a baseball sized lump of Martian telepathic biotechnology. Seemed that she was able to get her bioship to make it separately, and I had no problems in consuming and replicating it. The actual results were mixed, however. While M'gann could mentally connect to my new 'organ', it didn't actually get rid of the original problem. After testing some things we found out that the feedback she was getting from me was because her telepathy was actually registering each and every one of my nanites to be a valid single 'mind'. As a result she would hear the combined chittering of trillions of tiny voices. I had no idea how to take that bit of knowledge, by the way.

After some experimentation it became clear that in order to actually get a clear signal to her I had to convert almost my entire body into a telepathic ansible, which I did not particularly enjoy. Both because I think I started to pick up some background psychic 'white noise', and because it made me a twisted immobile pillar thing (I looked like a Dead Space marker, just to make things more unsettling). While M'gann was happy that she got to hear my mental voice, it looked like this wouldn't be something I would be doing too often.

I had hoped that I might have been able to try my hand at some other Martian technologies, but M'gann wasn't certain she could give me anything else. Her bioship was relatively sparsely equipped, and it wasn't capable of growing another set of engines for me to eat. Its camouflage function was a possibility, but the way she explained it was that for Martian tech to function properly, it had to be a fully functioning, alive system (i.e., not just a piece of its outer hull). You couldn't just take a piece out and expect it to work, and M'gann didn't have the proper bioengineering skills to jury rig something that would apparently be more complex than her previous offering.

Regardless of all this, my new teammates seemed suitably impressed with what I had. Robin let out a low whistle. "Man, any tech? I'd like to see Mr. Freeze's face if his own freeze gun was turned on him."

I shifted back to my regular form as I said "Actually I've been looking to get one of those, but Batman says all the ones the League has in storage count as evidence. I'll have to get one by… other means." It was a good starting point for Earth super-tech after all: versatile, potentially non-lethal, and I knew Captain Cold made his from commercially available parts.

After a moment Wally turned his attention to Kori. "And what have you got?"

"I have been told that I am much stronger and more durable than humans. We Tamaranians are also capable of flight." She said before she lifted a foot or so off the ground to demonstrate. "As well, Jacob was not the only one to be experimented on. As a result I can do this." She held out her hands as green energy formed in both of them. I watched as the gathering of her power caused her hair to glow and ignite, flames trailing down from the end and coiling around her.

M'gann let out a small noise and flinched back, clearly feeling uncomfortable at the sudden exposure to fire. Kori started and the flames cut out instantly. "I am sorry, I forgot!" She said awkwardly.

"What's wrong?" Robin asked.

"Martians aren't very fond of fire…" M'gann said as she flushed a slightly darker green.

Robin decided not to press the matter and looked back at Kori. "I wonder how that works… The hair thing, I mean."

Kori settled down onto the ground and shook her head. "To be honest, I don't know. This only started happening after the Psions experimented on me, and there are no Tamaranians I knew back home that had the same trait. I am not sure what causes it."

"It's exhaust energy." Everyone turned to look at me, and I explain. "I can see a wider spectrum of light than normal humans, so I have a rough idea of what happening with the energy in your body. There's a lot of circulation to the various parts of your body, but as the energy starts to shift down spectrum it flows upwards to your head. Normally it would stop at your scalp, but it seems that whatever your hair is made of conducts the energy. It travels down to the tips before it's finally released as a novel form of plasma, hence the fire effect."

Kori looked thoughtful at that, but M'gann tilted her head. "What exactly were they trying to do to you that resulted in this?"

"They were trying to see how much energy I could absorb before I exploded." She replied flatly. "Tamaranians have the natural ability to absorb ultraviolet rays and use it. Rather than giving them the result they expected though, I am now able to absorb far more than normal, and use it to fire bolts of energy."

I hummed at that. "To be honest, I'm a little surprised at that. I mean, all they did was force massive amounts of ultraviolet light into you, right? It's kind of odd that you're the first Tamaranian to show these abilities."

She shook her head. "I am not the first."

This caused me to blink. _Wait, what_?

She continued before I could ask. "The sun of Tamaran goes through brief periods of intense activity every few hundred years, increasing the amount of radiation the planet receives immensely. Though much of the life on Tamaran has evolved to use the light of the sun, this excess is too much and is deadly to that which cannot find shelter. Including my own species."

She looked off into space, as if remembering something. "But every so often there is one who faces the solar storm, by accident or by choice, and it changes them. Their bodies adapt the torrent of energy flowing through them and rather than be consumed by it they become one with it. These men and women of legend are known as Roshak'ar, Radiant Ones. They are key figures in our history, and the last one founded the current ruling dynasty."

 _And is your ancestor I imagine,_ I thought to myself. As far as I had known Kori's powers (as well as her siblings') had only ever been the results of experiments, nothing more. The fact that there was more to it in this reality was surprising… but made sense.

It was then that Superboy turned and started to walk away. _I guess he reached his limit_ , I thought. Trying to keep him engaged, I called out to him "Hey Superboy, anything you want to tell about yourself?"

His mouth twisted as he turned back towards us. "Nothing to tell that you guys don't already know. Half of you were there when you took me out of my pod." He said, and he turned back and resumed his exit.

M'gann looked a little distressed at this, but after a few moments she seemed to strike on an idea. "Oh, I know what we can do!" She floated ahead of Superboy and gestured. "Come on!"

* * *

A short while later, the lot of us were on board M'gann's bioship, soaring through the air above Happy Harbor (with the camouflage on, thankfully). I only listened with half an ear as the Martian listed off the specs as I had heard them before, though part of me still marveled at the technorganic wonder I was inside of. Psion tech and the Watchtower had both been advanced, but the sleek red and black craft was the first thing I had seen that seemed truly alien. The way it could swiftly alter its shape into complex 'organs' and a user friendly cockpit was fascinating to watch. Hell, even the chair I was sitting in had grown up out of the floor. If only I could…

 _No, bad Jacob! No thinking about taking a bite out of the bioship!_ Thankfully the living vessel didn't seem to notice my plight as I squirmed in my seat.

Robin then managed to get my attention as he suddenly turned to me and said "That reminds me, what's your superhero name?"

I winced. "I'm… still working on that one, actually." I had a whole white board full of names, point in fact, but I haven't been able to settle on one. Sure some of them are good enough, but I felt like this was the sort of thing I wanted to get perfect on the first try.

He shrugged. "Alright, but you're gonna want to think of one soon. Can't just call you Jacob in the middle of combat."

Kori titled her head. "Ah, this is about the title you bear when you go into battle, correct?"

"Yep. Every superhero's got a name. You know what yours is going to be?"

Kori paused for a moment before she started to answer, but then she stopped herself and looked at me. It took me a second to realize why: she knew that I knew what name she had taken back in the comics, and was looking to see if I had any input. After a long moment I simply nodded to her and gestured, as if to say 'it's your call'. I wasn't going tell her what her name was 'supposed' to be just because of what the comics said. Whatever she picked, it should be hers.

She only paused for a moment longer before she turned back to Robin and said "Starfire."

In spite of myself, I smiled at that. _I guess somethings don't change_ , I thought as I stared out the window at the ground below.

Wait, was that a tornado?

=====A=====


	8. 2-3

=====A=====

I picked up the signal on my internal radio receiver the same time the bioship's speakers came alive with Red Tornado's voice. "Red Tornado to Miss Martian, a red alert has been triggered at the Happy Harbor power plant. I suggest you investigate, covertly. I'm sending you the coordinates."

"Would this alert having anything to do with a whirlwind tearing up the place?" I asked as I pointed out the window, but even as I did my view of it was obstructed by a hill as it moved out of sight.

"What whirlwind?" Robin asked as he craned his neck to see what I was referring to. "You sure your eyes are as good as you say they are?"

I frowned as I looked at him. "It was there a second ago. Just keep your eyes open as we go in."

M'gann didn't say anything, but her hands moved across the glowing control spheres next to her seat and the bioship started to bank as we headed to our target. I felt a bit of anticipation chittering in my… well, everywhere, as I wondered what was going on. Maybe it was just a freak bit of weather…

Yeah, it sounded dumb in my head too.

It was only a couple of seconds before we had the power plant in our sights, a long building next to a row of trees that reminded me of a very large warehouse with smoke stacks. At first glance everything seemed perfectly normal, but it was Superboy who saw it first. "I see it, off to our right!" M'gann was already banking the ship out of the way as the small tornado seemed to come out of nowhere, tearing across the parking lot towards us. It managed to catch us in the edge of its cyclone and caused the bioship to spin, but M'gann quickly regained control before heading towards the parking lot below.

If I had a heart, it probably would have been pounding.

The ship hovered about 10 feet off the ground before a hole opened in the center of the command deck, and the rest of us promptly jumped out. The moment we hit the ground I managed to catch Robin dart to the side and around several cars with my blindsight, covering the distance towards the power plant with impressive speed. _That's a baseline 13 year old?_ I thought to myself incredulously.

The whirlwind had swung around and headed back towards the main building, and employees were fleeing the premises with all due haste. "Robin, are tornados common in New England-?" Kaldur started to say before he looked around and saw the boy was no longer there. "Robin?"

I pointed. "He ran off that way," I said just as Robin ducked into the building through one of the lower windows. A second later all of the windows along the top of the building started to blow out one after another. The rest of us present looked at each other before a silent consensus was reached and everyone bolted forward. I hung back for a second before I followed suit. I was supposed to stay in the back during combat after all.

We entered through a large service entrance just in time to see Robin being thrown across the wide open floor of the plant and slam into a concrete pillar before crashing to the ground. Standing on the other side of the floor was who I could only assume was the cause of all this. It was a nine foot tall robotic humanoid, with a combination of red and black armor plates making up its chassis (and oddly enough a brown scarf covering the lower half of its face). It also had a pair of tubes leading from a small structure on its back to its arms, of all things, with glowing blue lines on its hands and feet.

I had no idea who he/it was, but it looked like my first villain fight was against either a robot or a guy in power armor. All I had to do was get into close range, and hello upgrades.

Superboy was the first in and his jump landed him next to Robin's prone body, briefly making sure the young boy was ok before he asked with a growl "Who's your new friend?" He didn't even wait for a response before he made a beeline for the target.

"Didn't get his name, but he plays kinda rough!" Robin called out as he got to his feet.

" **My apologies,** " the villain said in a lightly synthesized and deeply resonate voice before he raised his hands towards the charging Superboy. " **You may address me as Mister Twister.** " With that, cyclones formed around the limbs before blasting towards Superboy, the force of which was able to slow his charge to a near halt. With a gesture and a powerful burst the wind suddenly launched the teen back through the air, and I winced as the concrete wall near me cracked from the impact of his body.

Even as I moved to catch him, Kori - no, we're in combat now, I need to start using titles, even mentally - Starfire was already flying in with a yell, arcing high before coming down almost on top of Twister. The villain raised his arms and sent a swirling blast of wind toward her as well, but while Starfire slowed to a crawl through the air she didn't stop completely, inching closer and closer to the metallic man. Twister seemed to realize that he couldn't stop her like that and pulled an arm away, pointing it at Kid Flash who was running towards him in a blur (also, damn was that interesting to watch). The speedster tried to do a sort of running drop kick, but Twister took control of the action midair and flung him straight into Starfire. The two collided and with another gesture a blast of wind tossed them out the building through another service entrance behind him.

Aqualad and Miss Martin tried to rush him from both sides before he could recover, but the villain simply gestured before his body was surrounded by a whirlwind and the two were tossed away like ragdolls. Robin stayed where he was for the moment, opting to regain his footing before he went back in.

 _Ok… maybe I should hold off on going into close range_ , I thought to myself as I helped Suberboy to his feet. I mean, I was pretty sure I could end it quickly, but Mr. Twister seemed very intent on keeping anything from getting that close. And the several attempts I had just witnessed told me I couldn't just blitz him.

" **I was prepared to be challenged by a superhero. I wasn't expecting children.** " Mister Twister remarked with a condescending tone, looking at the lot of us scattered about the building. He finally seemed to notice me hanging in the back as he looked in my direction. " **And how about you? Are perhaps you a real-?** "

That was as far as he got before my right arm shifted into a laser cannon and shot him.

I may not have been a marksman, but I had put in a little practice over the week, and hitting a target of that size with a laser wasn't terribly hard. The red beam struck him in the chest for a moment before he brought his arms up to block it. I held it for a few seconds before I stopped firing to see how the attack fared. Thermal imaging showed only a mild increase in Twister's temperature as he lowered his arms. " **Is that the best you can-** "

That was as far as he got before I upped the yield of my cannon from 25% to 50% and resumed firing.

Twister staggered back a bit at the renewed force hitting him, and I could see the metal of his body start to heat up and glow red. "If there's someone in there, you might want to tell me before it gets a little too hot for you." I called out.

Twister's response was to sweep out a hand towards me, causing a whirlwind to form and surge in my direction. I had been expecting something like this however, and the moment I saw this spikes shot out from the bottom my feet and impaled the concrete beneath me, firmly anchoring me to the floor. As the wind swept over me I buckled slightly, but I managed to remain standing under the assault. As the wind cleared I considered my options. I could keep upping the power of my laser, but I didn't want to actually damage Twister too much. Both because I didn't want to accidently kill him/it, and because I wanted something left over for me to consume. That meant I needed to focus on disabling him somehow.

So, I formed my left arm into another laser cannon and tried firing at his hands.

The villain let out something like a growl as he flinched to the side to avoid the second beam, the wind cutting off as he moved. " **This is becoming less and less amusing.** " He said as he cast his hands downward and kicked up a whirlwind around himself, picking up dirt and debris that had littered the floor. My beams moved as I tracked him, but all the junk that was starting to get in the way cut down how much actually got through, and I could see that the wind was starting to cool his chassis. Through the swirling mess around him I also saw him lift his hand and lightning start to crackle in his palm. " **Perhaps this will fix that.** "

I tried to move, but the spikes didn't retract into my feet fast enough. Oh shi- AARRRRH!

My body spasmmed as electricity surged through me, and everything blurred and lost focus. As soon as it started though it seemed to stop. My body slumped over a bit and I had to take a few seconds pulling myself back together… and I was a little surprised to find that it was not literal. I had partially melted the last time I had taken a shock like that, so why-

I realized it as the spikes finished retracting into my feet. Huh. I'll have to remember that for later.

Refocusing on the fight, I saw that Mister Twister had refocused on the others. Superboy had re-entered the fray with a steel beam in his hands, yelling in fury as he tried to crush the villain with it. Twister pulled back across the room as he sent another wave of miniature tornadoes in his direction, battering the teen and ripping the improvised weapon out of his hands. Miss Martian flew in with a small cloud of metal debris orbiting her before she threw it all in a barrage, but most of it was deflected by the winds already swirling around villain, and his armor plating took care of the rest. Mister Twister tried to retaliate with a bolt of lightning, but Aqualad was there, intercepting the bolt with his hand and somehow blocking it. Didn't know he could do that.

For the moment I stayed where I was, remaining hunched over and looking weakened. I didn't trust my aim with all of my teammates ducking in and out of my line of fire, so I decided to wait for the right moment to act. For his part, Mister Twister seemed to be getting his momentum back even as he blocked or deflected all the attacks coming at him. " **I will admit, you children have more power than I thought, but you are still no substitute for a real superhero**." Twister said as he simply rose into the air to avoid a leaping kick from Robin. I noted with some curiosity that he didn't seem to have any thrusters or propulsion, he just... floated. " **Is there not one of you who can provide- Aargh!** "

The villain was cut off as a salvo of green energy bolts slammed into his back, and the rest of us looked up in time to see Starfire flying back into the building, her hands brimming with power. Twister cast out his hands and sent more whirlwinds out to knock her out of the sky, but there was a sudden blur of motion that rushed in to meet them first, moving around them in the opposite direction and cutting off their rotation. After the wind died down the blur resolved itself into Kid Flash, sliding to a stop next to Aqualad and Robin. "Ooo, right in the middle of his monologue too. That's some serious points off his villain cred." The speedster quipped with a grin.

Aqualad stepped forward as he looked up at the floating villain. "Surrender now, and I promise you will not be harmed."

Mister Twister of course just laughed at that. " **Oh please. You think that because you got a few lucky shots in that you can actually beat me? You will need to hit me at least twice as hard to-** "

And that was the exact moment I formed another two laser cannons on my shoulders and opened fire with all four at once.

" **Oh come on!** " Twister shouted as the lasers struck him, his metal visibly glowing and warping at the points of impact on his torso. I tried to readjust my aim to hit something a bit more disabling, but Twister decided to exercise the better part of valor and flew out the service door that he had previously tossed my teammates out of.

"After him!" Aqualad called out, and we all bolted out of the building after the villain, out into the open field nearby. Mister Twister had floated to a stop about 50 feet above the ground, his arms spread wide as wind and lightning started to pick up around him, a much larger cyclone beginning to form.

" **Enough of this distraction. I have better-** " He started to say, but Starfire was having none of that though. She immediately flew at him firing more starbolts, small explosions detonating all over Mister Twister's body as they came in contact. When he was visible again he looked worse for wear, but he still growled in anger before lashing out at the Tamaranian with lightning. Starfire dodged the bolt (somehow) and opened fire again, but this time the villain moved from his spot. The two started to maneuver around each other in midair, each trying to land a solid hit on the other. I also noticed that while the proto-cyclone above us had not disappeared, it was starting to slow the more he focused on her.

While this was going on, Aqualad turned to our other female teammate. "Read his mind, find a weakness!"

The green girl blinked in surprise before she looked at me. "But, but I thought I wasn't supposed to do that!"

"It's acceptable in combat, do it!" I yelled back. In truth I'd probably have to explain and break the complicated topic down for her later, but now was not the time for such nuance.

She nodded and closed her eyes, and for a moment nothing happened. "…Nothing, I'm getting nothing." Her eyes then shot open and smacked herself upside the head. "Hello Megan, Mister Twister is Red Tornado in disguise!"

"...What?"

"He's inorganic, an android! And how many androids to you know that can generate tornados?"

I stared at her incredulously for a second before I said "M-Miss Martian, Red Tornado would not threaten people's lives and destroy a power plant as part of a training exercise. Also, Mister Twister's tornadoes are very distinctly not _red_!" I know for a fact that we had both seen Red Tornado use his abilities before, but I guess she hadn't realized that was where the 'Red' came from.

Miss Martian flinched back from me at this, which made me feel guilty, but we didn't have time to talk about it. A loud boom brought our attention back to the fight in the air in time to see Starfire tumbling away from Mister Twister before she righted herself in the air. The cyclone gathering around what I now knew was an android started to pick up the pace again before Starfire could reengage.

I racked my brain as I tried to think of what we could do. Miss Martian was the only other one of us that could fly, but she didn't have anything that could get through Twister's defenses. The only one besides Starfire who had a decent ranged attack in the group was myself, but my lasers weren't quite effective enough. Now that I knew that he was an android, I could make some kind of EMP weapon... if I had the slightest clue how (never mind how badly it might hurt me as well). It would still be optimal if I could just actually touch him, but how-

Then an idea came to me, and I felt dumb for not thinking of it sooner.

All of my laser cannons melded back into my body with the exception my right arm, which instead started to expand. I still hadn't figured out exactly how many watts I could put out total, but practically speaking the amount of energy I could channel through my laser weaponry was linked to their structural integrity. Put too much through and my arm starts getting all hot and melty. At the moment the best way to get around that was to just build it up. As the cannon grew its form became heavy and more angular, its weight was such that I was forced to grab a handle that grew from the top with my free hand. The barrel widened as more structure formed under it, adding more capacity as well as something extra just below. I just had to wait for the right moment…

I got it a few seconds later when Starfire rushed at him and he was forced to dodge towards me. "Hey Twisty!" I yelled. Alright, not A-grade banter I'll admit, but I was new to this and it got Twister's attention just the same. I pointed the cannon at him, and the barrel started to glow ominously. "Block this!"

With not enough time to change directions, Mister Twister brought his arms in a cross in front of him to block the shot, but I wasn't sure if it would help. With a gun that big, the laser was going to do a lot of damage to him.

Which was why instead of actually firing the laser, I instead fired the under barrel grappling hook at him. The line shot out and latched onto his arms before he realized what happened. Gottcha!

There was only a moment before the grapple's head unfurled into assimilation spikes and buried themselves into Twister's gauntlets. Unfortunately, due to the relatively low mass of the grapple head there was less to work with, and the grey material spread up twister's arms slower than I thought it would. " **What is this?! No!** " The villain yelled as he struggled to get free. Lightning arced across his body and I screamed in pain as it came into contact with my mass, causing the absorption to stop. At that moment Twister wrenched in midair with such force that his partially consumed arms simply tore off his body and fell to the ground. He listed in the air as he tried to rebalance himself after losing his limbs.

Starfire didn't give him the chance. She shot up above him before coming back down, smashing into the android with enough force to send him crashing into the ground. Even as he tried to get on his feet, Superboy had already cleared the distance, laying into the villain with a shout and a rapid series of punches that drove him back.

 _Would have thought he'd change it up a bit, but hey if it works,_ I thought as I pulled my new mass back to my body. I then called out to the teen, ignoring that small rush I felt as my body started to pick apart what I absorbed as I tried to yell. "Superboy, don't-!"

Before I could finish, the teen let out a roar and put his fist through Mister Twister's torso. Twice.

"...Never mind." I muttered as my arm shifted back into its normal shape before I settled into a stance. "Just pass him this way!" I yelled out. As I planted my feet and drew my arm back, it started to shift into a creation all of my own. I may not have been hyper-cognitive, but the principles of an electromagnetic piston were simple enough to grasp. My arm widened and lengthened as a piston grew out of the back of my elbow, and spikes grew out of my knuckles. Electricity crackled along the limb as energy built up, rings along the outer edge spinning faster and faster as the potential grew.

Superboy finally managed to disentangle himself from the android and grab what was left of its shoulders, and with a spin he flung the thing straight at me. I knew that technically the attack had never been named as such, but as my target came flying towards me I couldn't help myself. "Cast in the name of God..." I said, unable to keep a grin off my face as I swung my fist. "Ye not Guilty!"

The moment my fist connected with the Twister's sternum, the piston fired, and there was a massive crash as my limb went clear through, impaling and grinding him to a stop before me. "Let's try this again," I said as spikes erupted from my arm inside of him.

It was much faster than before, but I still kept a tight rein on it, as I didn't want to accidentally eat whatever part his mind was located at. His legs went quickly, and the torso started to peel back layer by layer. I briefly felt an electric current surge before it cut off as I consumed its source from the module on its back. As I started to pick up the pace though, I noticed something odd. The torso was a lot more open on the inside than I would have thought, as well as holding a pair of... legs? Mechanical, but human sized, and connected to a torso, arms... There was a smaller android piloting this thing, and _oh shit I was about to consume its head-_

In a sudden panic I threw the now much smaller body away from me, stumbling with the motion as the extra mass had yet to fully incorporate itself into me. The pile of metal and circuits landed with a thump on the ground about 10 feet away, right at the feet of Kid Flash. He looked down at the mess before looking back up at me and made a face. "Now that's just freaky."

"Something wrong?" Miss Martian asked as she floated next to me. "It's just a machine, you don't need to worry."

I looked at her as my body finished sorting itself out. "So am I. What's your point?" I asked, and I didn't wait for her to respond before I walked over what I now knew to be the remains of a power suit, digging through the refuse till I found it. I stood back up with a (mostly) intact head, which looked to belong to a man in his thirties with shaggy hair and sideburns. At a glance I would have sworn that it was a human head if it wasn't for the few spots where its synthetic skin had been torn, and all of the wires and metal bits sticking out of its neck stump. It was made more unsettling with how it was clearly still active and looking at me before it made a face. "Well, this is awkward..." It said with a slightly broken voice.

"It's not any less weird for me either." I remarked flatly, though internally I was letting out a sigh of relief. "Mind you I could have kept going, but I decided that you wouldn't care to be completely 'disassembled'. So I think that at the least you owe us a bit of an explanation as to why the hell you did all this."

"Alright, alright." The head responded. "It's like this-"

And then the head exploded.

* * *

A few hours later the lot of us were back in the Mountain's tech lab, the remains of Mister Twister and its pilot on a slab in the middle of it. A number of sensors swept over it and data displayed on one of the nearby monitors, but all of it was telling us the same thing. "You seriously can't tell us anything about who this guy was?" Wally asked Robin as the boy poured over the data.

"All of these parts are custom made, right down to the transistors." Robin said as he typed away at a keyboard. "And none of the metals are unique enough to be traceable, so there's nothing really to follow up on."

Kaldur grunted at that. "Unfortunate, but it seems that all we can do is keep an eye out in the future."

I only half payed attention to them as I leaned against the nearby wall, my thoughts still preoccupied with going over the battle. It had been my first real superhero fight, and I kept going over in my mind, how fast it went, things we did wrong, what to look out for in the future. Mostly though I did it to avoid thinking about the thing that was actually bothering me.

Unfortunately, Kori had other plans as she looked in my direction. "Why are you so distant, Jacob? We were victorious and stopped a villain from destroying the livelihoods of many."

"I know, I know," I said. "I just... I've never had someone commit suicide in my hands before. I can't shake that off very quickly."

"Your concern, while appreciated, in unnecessary." I turned my head to look at Red Tornado, who had been standing silently nearby the remains. He continued. "Scans indicate that the remains of the more human head did not contain the needed elements or components for any known configuration of a Sophant Processor. It is far more likely that it was simply being controlled by remote."

"Really? That... makes me feel a lot better actually." I said as I stopped leaning on the wall. "Of course that means we'll probably be seeing him again someday..."

"Indeed." Red Tornado said with a nod. "Past experience with such characters has shown me that they tend to take such defeats personally. Your team may have acquired its first nemesis."

"Yes, score!" Wally yelled before he and Robin hi-fived.

I arched an eyebrow at that. "Not sure that's a good thing..."

M'gann looked at Red Tornado in concern. "But, if he shows up again, would you help us? His powers were similar to yours, so you might be able to counter-"

"No." The android interrupted. "It is not my place to solve your problems. Besides which, you seemed to be perfectly capable of handling it on your own." He then turned and walked out of the tech lab without another word. _He's rather fond of abrupt exits_ , I thought to myself.

Robin scowled as he watched Red Tornado leave. "Would have thought he would be a least a little interested, especially considering this guy was stealing his whole windy theme."

Wally just shrugged. "Eh, it's probably not the first time a wind powered robot has shown up. Speedsters pop up in Central City to challenge the Flash all the time." Then Wally seemed to remember something before he turned to me. "Oh yeah, didn't you say that you could copy tech you ate? Does that mean you have Twister's wind tech?"

I let out a sigh. I hadn't had a lot of time to experiment with it but… "Kind of." I stepped away from the group towards an open part of the lab, internally forming a device I had absorbed at the end of the fight. The air around me started to dance and swirl erratically as the wind kicked up, forcing my teammates back from me a bit. Anything that was not nailed down was pushed around the room, and several pieces of equipment rattled.

Holding his hand in front of his face, Robin frowned. "What do you mean, 'kind of'? Looks like you have it."

The wind cut off and I shrugged. "Not all of it. I can make blasts of wind, but they're not very controlled. No creating whirlwinds I can shoot at people, and no flying." _That_ was disappointing, let me tell you. I gestured vaguely. "I don't know if it was mostly controlled by software, the holes Superboy put in him, or the fact that I stopped consuming him partway through, but the Aerokinetic core I can make is... incomplete for lack of a better term."

Superboy shifted uncomfortably at that. "Uh, sorry."

I waved him off. "Don't worry about it. It was the first time we've been in combat and we never talked about it. I'll just have to work on it later. Besides which, it wasn't like I didn't get anything functional out of this." I raised my arm off to the side, and the plates gave way to several short spines that grew along the limb, its form twisting just a bit as its internals changed. Just beneath the surface of the limb my nanites formed into a fine, highly conductive mesh that formed a basic Faraday cage to keep the rest of my body protected. "The Aerokinetic core also had secondary electrical manipulation abilities. Those seemed to be a bit more intact, and combining them with the other bits of electrical tech I already had..." Lightning crackled between my fingertips before I launched a very low powered bolt at a Tesla coil in the corner. " _That_ is fully operational."

The armor and the android had also given me some insights into a proper humanoid form. I hadn't had time to really test it out but it was looking promising, and I had already figured out how to use it to give myself a mild increase in strength.

Wally let out a whistle. "Man, your powers are bullshit. But so long as you're with us, I'm perfectly fine with that."

I snorted and shifted my arm back to normal. There was a silent pause between all of us, and at that moment I decided to roll with a sudden whim. I clapped my hands together and said "So! First victory as a team. Means we have to celebrate. And considering some of us are new to this particular planet, that means introducing them to culture via moving pictures. Movie Night!" I didn't just have movies in mind either, as I had just finished downloading all five seasons of Firefly.

That's right, five seasons. This may be the best universe.

Robin shrugged with a grin on his face. "Can't remember the last time we just hung out. I'm game." Kaldur nodded and smiled as well. Superboy was silent for a moment before he shrugged. "Sure, whatever." A week ago he would have probably just grumbled and walked off, so progress!

M'gann perked up. "Oh, I should get baking right away! The cookies didn't work out, but I still have a pie recipe I can try!"

This, of course, caused Kori to get excited and wrap her arms around the much shorter Martian from behind. "Can you also make the one with the lime filling again? That was my favorite!" M'gann blushed green at the sudden contact, but she nodded.

Wally looked on with a dumb grin on his face before saying. "Best. Team. Ever."

=====A=====


	9. 3-1

=====A=====

I made no sound as I crawled through the Mountain's air vents, carefully looking for any sign of my prey. My tail swept out slowly behind me as my head moved close to the vent floor to find any trace of his passing, and while I only found a few light scuffs I wasn't concerned. He may have had more experience than I did, but by this point I could navigate the tunnels and secret passages better than anyone else on my team. And he was the only one of them still standing.

Black Canary had been too busy for the past two weeks to come by (something about a stake out in Bludhaven), so I decided to take Red Tornado's advice and tried to get some training going on my own. We didn't have a danger room or anything like it in the Mountain though, and I doubted that all the teenagers in the group would care for any kind of regimented training among themselves, so I decided to keep it simple and challenged them all to a game of hide and seek. Of a sort. Basically, the goal was to tag the person on the other team in the center of their back, and then that person was out. Last team standing won.

Oh, and the teams were me verses everyone else.

Perhaps a little egotistical on my part, but I honestly wanted to see if I could do it, plus it would make the xenomorph surprise all the more hilarious. Though to be honest I had half expected that after my 2 minute head start was up that Wally would find me instantly. That didn't happen though, as he ended up zipping by my hiding place up on the wall of the generator room a few times without even noticing. I guess it hadn't occurred to him that he'd have to look up to see me. I had also gotten lucky when he stopped nearby a air vent to com the rest of the team. The scream he made when I tagged him and dragged him into the vent was more satisfying than it probably should have been.

After that I started picking them one by one. Kaldur and Superboy were easy as the group tired splitting up to find me (Though the latter of which nearly pasted me out of reflex before he realized who I was). The remaining three wised up to what I was doing and moved into the air vents to track me down. But, even though the girls could fly, neither of them were quite as mobile as I was in the confined space. A little bit of maneuvering and I managed to get the both of them before Robin disappeared (Neither of them were that surprised by my appearance though, I guess the aliens were used to sights like me). That left only Robin, and the hyper-competent infiltration expert was a bit better at the game than the rest of the team.

As good as he was though, he had left enough of a trail for my superhuman sight to pick up on, and he was clearly heading deeper into the complex. _Trying to set a trap maybe?_ I thought before I picked up the pace, weaving through the vents quickly and fluidly. After a minute I came to a junction in the vents going left and right, and a bit of discoloration on the path to the left drew my attention. Looking closer I realized that it was Robin's cape, apparently discarded. Had I a proper face I would have rolled my eyes. _Come on, Robin, I'm smarter than that_ , I thought to myself as I headed down the right side path.

A few seconds later the vent widened into some kind pipe filed service room, not much larger than a large closet. Near as I could tell the room was meant to be a sort of auxiliary access for the Mountain's water filtration system. I took a quick glance around to see that he wasn't hiding anywhere in the small space before I stepped in and started to move to the exit on the other side.

The moment I did though there was a series of sharp cracks and smoke exploded up from the floor, rapidly expanding and obscuring everything. Even my infrared vision. _IR blocking smoke? Should have known even your smoke pellets are high tech..._ I thought as I froze in place and tried to keep calm. Even though I couldn't see, I still wasn't blind. My blindsight was still giving me a clear view of the room, so rather than trying to bolt I waited for Robin to make his move. If he assumed that I couldn't see him then he would-

My patience was rewarded a second later as there was movement at the top of the room and a humanoid shape started to fall to the floor, primed to land behind me. I didn't have time to wonder where he had been hiding and jumped back as fast as I could, so that I would be behind him when he landed. He didn't react to my movement, and my hand shot out to tag him just as he came into range, securing my victory.

Except it didn't. Now that it was close enough to see despite the smoke, I saw that the thing dropping towards me was not Robin, but a dummy. Specifically one of the practice dummies we had in the fitness room. It crashed to the ground in front of me, and I blinked in confusion for a second before I straightened. A trick! But then where-

I suddenly felt something touch my back, and I froze out of pure shock. My blindsight didn't see anything behind me! What the hell?! I slowly turned my head to look behind me and as the smoke cleared I saw a black swath of cloth hanging right behind me with the middle pushed out to touch my back. Or to put it more accurately, a cape.

The cape dropped to reveal Robin with a shit eating grin, his arm still out stretched and touching me. "Gotcha."

* * *

"You knew I could track motion." I said as the two of us climbed out of a duct and landed in one of the Mountain's many hallways. My tail stretched out as I stood to walk on my hind legs, towering over the much shorter boy. "The infrared thing, fine, I told you how I could see in a wider spectrum, but how did you know..."

Robin gave a lopsided grin as we walked. "It's the way you move. Everyone else reacts when I pop up out of nowhere, even if it's just a small twitch. You on the other hand never reacted at all, as if you always knew the positions of everyone in the room. I figured that with all the tech you absorbed you probably had a sense that let you do that."

"Huh. But how did you know that it was ultrasound?" I asked. While ultrasound imaging was useful and versatile, it only worked on surfaces that could reflect the sound. Anything that muffled sound, like a sheet of cloth, was more or less invisible. He had to have known that was how I was doing it or he wouldn't have tried the cape trick.

He shrugged."I didn't, but it the the only method I knew how to beat with what I had, so I took the chance."

"...Touche."

We turned the corner and walked into the common room, the rest of the team waiting for us there. Wally scowled as he saw me. "Dude. Not cool. Did you really have to drag me into the vents?!"

I smiled as I shrugged, or at least closely approximated those actions with my inhuman structure. "Perhaps not, but in my defense, it was hilarious."

Wally shivered at my expression. "Never do that again. Also, how the hell are you talking right now?"

I tapped at a knob at the base of my throat. "Speaker." I said. It had taken a little bit of practice to manipulate the device to make human speech just thinking about it, but I had gotten the hang of it.

Kaldur's mouth twisted a little. "As... useful as that form is, I think your sense of humor could use some adjustment."

"Yeah, most people just tell jokes." Superboy said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Eh, normal jokes aren't really my strong suit." I said. "How about this: A Tamaranian, a Martian, a Half-Kryptonian and a Post Human all walk into a bar. They then all promptly leave when they realize that none of them can metabolize alcohol in any meaningful fashion."

There was a long pause from everyone else before Wally coughed. "Yeah... don't quit your day job."

Superboy on the other hand scowled at me. "What do you mean, Half-Kryptonian? You're not talking about me are you?"

I blinked. "I mean... yes? You're Half-Kryptonian right?"

"No I'm not! I mean, I shouldn't be! I'm a clone of Superman, why would I only be Half-Krptonian?!"

I was about to reply about how he told me about it when I stopped, realizing that no, he in fact did _not_ ever tell me about his hybrid status. I had just known from the comics and assumed that it common knowledge. Except that he thought differently, and now I had to explain just how I knew/thought that.

 _Great job, numbnuts, you've only been at this for less than two weeks and you've already blown it._

I stammered a little as I tried to deflect the question. "Well, uh, are you sure about that? Has anyone actually checked your DNA since you left Cadmus?"

"Well, no, but... I'm supposed to be a clone of Superman." He insisted before his tone turned angry. "Why would you think that I'm only half? Is it because I'm not as strong as him?!"

That... was a plausible answer. Knowing Superboy it was also a fast way to get my head caved in if I came out and said it directly. I took a deep breath (unnecessary as it was) and answered. "Look, I'm sorry I assumed. But... if you don't actually know for sure... It might be a good idea to do a DNA profile on you regardless, to make sure that Cadmus didn't do anything-"

"No! No more labs or testing! I don't need to do anything!" He yelled at me before he stormed off. I slumped a little as I watched him go, trying to ignore the feeling of guilt settling in my gut. _Maybe I should..._

M'gann stepped next to me and put her hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, he'll come around. You know he's just... touchy about certain things."

"Yeah..." I said. It was difficult getting the teen to talk about it, but after living with him for over a week I had gathered that he had some hang ups when came to his parentage. I honestly wasn't sure why though. Maybe Superman just didn't visit often enough.

M'gann was silent for a moment before she turned to me. "So... are you comfortable being like that?"

"Huh?" I looked at her in surprise at the sudden shift in topics. "Well, I guess. I've been practicing being in different forms and getting used to them. This is actually the first form I took after I was consumed by these things." I waved my arm as I referred to my nanites.

"Really? Why?"

"Don't know. I think this is my 'base form' for whatever reason. It probably resembles whatever species made these things in the first place. That said I would have preferred them to look a little more human like."

"Oh. Well, then change back! You don't have to look like that if you don't want to!" She said cheerfully.

I cocked an eyebrow at that, but I said "Alright", and a second later I started to shift my body back to something more human. Rather than changing into my armored form though I shifted into something I had been working on over the past few days. As my internals shifted my surface segmented into into a series of thin, interlocking plates. They were fitted closely enough that it gave me the appearance of an almost unbroken surface while actually being flexible and allowing human like motion.

It was a form I had derived from the android that had been piloting Mister Twister. His internals may have used traditional robotic hydraulics and actuators rather than some kind of synthetic muscle, but it had been brilliantly constructed so that the surface shifted and moved to mimic human biomechanics. It was almost perfect... save for the occasional ridges and lack of realistic skin. Either the android hadn't bothered with synthetic skin below the neck or my nanites couldn't replicate it. I still had my own efforts in that regard, but manually trying to create a membrane of nanites that resembled human skin and fit naturally over my frame was... tricky. Besides which, even after assimilating the android I still didn't have proper tactile sensation (guess the creator didn't think it was necessary), so I didn't see much of a point in the extra step anyway.

As the changes finished I rolled my shoulders to make sure everything fit the way it should. I was thinner than when in my armored form, but I was still about 6'6'' and built broad in the shoulders, so everyone gave me some room. After that I glanced at a mirror hanging on the far wall, and promptly grimaced at the flat, near featureless face that looked back at me. _Damn, still looks like that,_ I thought. I had hoped that all my practice at shaping my face over the past few weeks would cause my casual efforts to be more productive, but that still wasn't the case. I'd have to spend another hour or so fixing it.

Kori saw my grimace and gave me a reassuring smile. "Do not worry, you will get there. You have already improved so much."

"Thanks, but I know I have a ways to go. Just have to eat a few more androids..." I remarked. "Unfortunately, Kord Industries' robotics department is behind where I need it to be."

"So that's who you decided to go with..." Robin said. "How did the meeting go?"

When I had brought up the subject of outside help to Batman (who was still dragging his feet with the cadaver), he had given me the options of STAR Labs or Kord Industries, and after some thought I had selected the later. I couldn't cite any one major reason, but I did have a few minor ones. Though I couldn't be sure it was the same here, I had not forgotten how Cadmus had compromised STAR Labs in Justice League Unlimited, and my paranoia was telling that I really didn't want data on my nanites falling into the wrong hands. There was also the fact that after taking a look at how both organizations worked, it was clear that while STAR Lab's was primarily a research institution, Kord industries put a lot more technology into production. Given that I already had the data from Green Lantern's scan, I figured that what I needed was someone who could help me use and apply it, an engineer over a scientist.

Alright, the chance to meet Blue Beetle may have played a part in my decision too.

"Pretty good, though Mr. Kord could only give me a few more ideas that I hadn't really thought of yet. He wants to do more, but first he put me in contact with a specialist in Nanotechnology and Claytronics. I'm going to be meeting her in a few days-"

Before I could say anymore, the Mountain's speakers came on and Batman's voice echoed through the hall. "Team, gear up and assemble in the briefing chamber in five minutes. You have an assignment."

We all stopped for a moment before Robin fist pumped. "Yes, finally!"

* * *

"Isla Santa Prisca," Batman said as he gestured to the holographic screen that floated next to him and Red Tornado, the display in the main hall showing a top down view of the island along with extra information. "This island nation is the primary source of a dangerous and illegal neo-steroid. A strength enhancing drug sold on the street named Venom."

 _Bane started mass producing the stuff? Wonder why I hadn't heard of this before,_ I thought to myself. I had been pouring through the Justice League's database for information every chance I got, but even when I had been looking up important villains and their crimes I hadn't seen any mention of Venom save for in Bane's file. _Maybe this street level stuff is just that, and he keeps the good stuff for himself._

The holoscreen shifted and turned into as set of blue prints and a layout of the factory. "Infrared heat signatures indicated that the factory is operating at full capacity, but all shipments of Venom have been inexplicably cut off. That's where this team comes in. This is a covert, recon mission only; Observe and report. If the Justice League needs to intervene, it will."

 _Our first mission... is covert?_ I thought to myself as I glanced at my teammates. It was the first time I had seen them all in their costumes and while I had gotten used to the idea of people in brightly colored outfits being taken seriously, aside from maybe Robin we did not look stealthy. Hell, Superboy was still wearing his t-shirt and jeans (and standing on the opposite side of the group from me, I noticed).

As well, I had wondered for a while just what Starfire was going to do when it came to her costume, but the result was something I didn't quite expect. She wore a midriff revealing long armed top that extended slightly over the back of her hands, with a green stone embedded in each. There was another green stone right beneath her throat, and the whole thing was purple with silver at the cuffs. Her bottom half had the same color scheme with close shorts and thigh high boots. Definitely more modest than her v-shape bikini costume of the 80's, but still showed more skin than you'd expect.

In any case, none of them seemed to be feeling the same concern for the mission as me, so maybe I was the only one worried about sending a barely cohesive team of teenagers into a stealth mission. Still I decided let that go and address my other concern as I raised my hand. "Sir, I have to ask... since was already have so much intel and know that they're making illegal drugs at this factory... why don't we just take the place out?"

He looked at me with a light scowl. "This team isn't ready for an assault mission like that."

I waved my hand. "Fine, but I was talking about the Justice League in general. Why does this place still exist with you guys running around? Or hell, why haven't you just given this info to the proper authorities?"

"In this case, there are no proper authorities." The man replied. "The owner of the factory has the dictator of Santa Prisca in his pocket, and the facility is officially used for industrial chemical manufacture. Any local authorities have already been paid off. The League hasn't dealt with the matter directly because it's outside it's UN charter. We provide disaster relief, crime fighting, and handling supernatural threats. Stepping in to stop drug manufacture in a foreign nation would set a bad precedent."

I couldn't help but raise my eyebrow skeptically at Batman. If this factory was in Gotham I had no doubt that it would already be shut down. I understood his reasons, and how it could look bad for the League if they started interfering with nations that didn't want them... but it somehow felt really wrong to have superheroes needing to bow to political realities.

Starfire felt the same way apparently, as she then said "But surely after our reconnaissance is complete there will be some action taken, yes? If this drug is as bad as you say, we can not let these villains do as they please."

"The Justice League will take care of it." Red Tornado said. "For now, focus on your own mission."

Starfire frowned but said nothing else. After a moment of silence Robin spoke up. "Who's team leader?"

Batman and Red Tornado looked at each other for a moment before they turned back to us. "Decide that among yourselves."

After that the briefing boiled down to going over little details and contingencies. Soon enough it was time to head out and the team made their way to the bioship. As we walked towards the cargo bay, I voiced the question. "So... how are we going to do this? Vote?"

"For what?" Robin asked.

"For team leader."

"What? Dude, we don't need to vote. I'm team leader."

I blinked in confusion. Did I miss a team meeting at some point? Turns out I didn't as second later Kid Flash spoke up and said "Whoa, hold up. I think you're getting a little big for your tights. There's no way that you're the leader."

Robin's head snapped towards Kid Flash in irritation. "Why not? I have the most experience out of all of us, and Batman's practically been training me for this!"

"You're not Batman, you're a thirteen year old kid!"

"And you're a 'mature' 15? Get real!"

I realized that the conversation wasn't going to be productive, so I said "All right, all right, that's enough. Assuming that's true, Robin might have a point about experience," I looked at the boy directly. "But does any of that experience involve leadership or group tactics?"

He shrugged. "Not really, but I'll pick it up. Just follow my lead and we'll ace this mission in no time."

I looked at Robin flatly for a moment before I face palmed and let out a sigh. Aqua Lad then spoke up "Robin, battle leadership is not as trivial as you seem to think it is. Atlantian commanders can spend months training with their squads so that they can preform maneuvers without signals or discussion. While you know what we are capable of, that's not the same as knowing how we work together under pressure."

Starfire then spoke. "A leader must also command the respect of those under him, be willing to take any risk he would give to another, as well as trusting those he gives these risks to that they can do as he commands."

I raised an eyebrow at the two. "I take it that you've both had training, then?"

Aqua Lad shook his head. "Not as such, but I have managed to pick up a great deal while apprenticed to my king."

Starfire shrugged. "A little, but most of my lessons on the commanding side of warfare were strategic rather than tactical, and even then it did not involve individuals with such varied abilities as yourselves." She paused before she continued. "Perhaps we can only determine who is best to lead when we are already in the field."

"And here I was thinking we'd get some training to figure that out _before_ we were sent out into the field." I said throwing up my hands in exasperation. "I really hope this is an easy mission, because if things goes wrong we could make it worse by not all being on the same page."

"It won't come down to that." Robin insisted. "Come on, I'll show you I can do this."

I sighed before lifting up my hands. "Alright, we'll just have to wing it."

Aqua Lad nodded. "Do not worry, we have come together before, we should be able to do so again. As our support, you can keep an eye on the rest of us." He paused for a moment as he looked at me before he continued. "Jacob, have you selected your name yet? It would be unwise to use you're real name during a mission."

Before I could respond, Kid Flash pipped up. "Oh, I know! We should call you Beast Borg!"

I stared at him flatly for a long moment before I said. "No. No I will not call myself Beast Borg." _Even if it is weirdly apropos..._ I thought to myself. "Besides which, I've settled on a name."

"Oh, what is it?" Starfire asked.

"Call me... Machina."

=====A=====


	10. 3-2

=====A=====

The sun had long set as we approached Santa Prisca in the bioship, the living vessel having stayed under the speed of sound to keep us from being too noticeable. The trip hadn't been terribly long, plus the seats on the commend deck were surprisingly comfortable (or so the others had told me). My own seat accommodated my armored form quite well, in any case. Talk between my teammates had died down, and now the deck was filled with a sort of quiet anticipation.

Glancing to my right at Starfire though, she was staring out the window at the ocean, her brow slightly furrowed. My mouth twisted as I wondered if I should ask her about it. I didn't want to pester her just before the mission started, but if it was actually a problem with the mission I should ask now, but it was probably just some minor thing, and I _really should stop overanalyzing this-_

Finally I let out a small sigh and leaned closer to her. "Something bothering you?" I asked softly, though I doubted the conversation wouldn't be heard by the others in the enclosed space.

She gave a small start as she looked at me. "Oh, nothing important. This... just was not quite what I expected we would be doing when we joined this team."

"You thought we'd be more directly deployed against threats." I guessed.

She nodded. "I do not doubt the importance of more covert work, it is simply... not me."

I hummed in acknowledgment. "I know what you mean. To be honest I thought we'd be doing something... a bit less complicated to start off with, but I guess Batman has confidence in us. But that's something else." I waved of. "I'm sure something more open and straightforward will be brought to the team at some point. And that aside, our cover stories have just been finished, so I think technically we can go out on our own if we want."

To be honest 'cover stories' wasn't really the right term; they were almost entirely true save for a few details here and there. The League was claiming that Green Lantern had meet Starfire while off world and the two had worked together before, and that I had worked as a technician for a company that was a Justice League affiliate before I was transformed by the standard lab-accident-gone-horribly-wrong sort of deal. This was mostly to justify us being declared associate League members, thus giving us free access to the Zeta Tubes and explaining why we might suddenly pop up anywhere in the world.

Starfire perked up as I mentioned that. "That's true! And I've already made plans with Wonder Woman."

I stopped and blinked in confusion. "You... wait, what?"

"I had tried to get updates on when we could go out from League members, but it was difficult finding someone who could give me a straight answer. Red Tornado told me that that it 'wasn't his responsibility', and Batman would merely say 'it will be ready when it's ready'. While I was trying to think of another League member to talk to, I saw a news report on the United Nations and learned that Diana is the Ambassador for her nation! And Ambassadors had offices! So I just called her office directly."

"...and that actually worked?" I asked incredulously.

"Of course it did. She seemed surprised by it too for some reason. In any case, she didn't know, but we got talking and she is really wonderful! She told me about her homeland and the campaigns she has been in! And I told her about Tamaran and some of the history of my people, and she was really interested! Apparently there is some parallel to be drawn between my home world and this 'Themyscria'."

"...Huh." I said nonplussed. _Who'd have thought that the figurative amazonian warrior princess would have hit it off with the literal amazonian warrior princess- never mind, I feel dumb._

Starfire continued. "We can go out as soon as this mission is done, but Dianna invited us to come on patrol with her in a few days. Something about 'adding to your legitimacy if you're seen with a League member'."

That did make sense, though I was still a little surprised that Wonder Woman was being so accommodating. I mean, it's not like I didn't expect League members to even give us the time of day, but for one of the big three to actually invite us… I guess Starfire made a really good impression.

"Drop zone A in 30." Miss Martian announced loudly. The two of us glanced at her before we looked back at each other and nodded. Time to focus on the mission.

We were still speeding over the water, but Aqualad got up from his seat and tapped the emblem on his belt. His uniform (which was a sleeveless version of Aquaman's with a red top and black bottoms) changed as it shifted to a dark grey coloration. "Ready."

"Putting bioship in camouflage mode." She said back. While I didn't see the exterior change, the floor next to Aqualad opened up and the sound of rushing wind filled the command deck as we got a clear view of the water below. He gave us a salute before he dived out of the hatch and disappeared out of sight.

Aqualad's job as our point man was to disable the island's perimeter sensors before the rest of us showed up, so that the bioship wouldn't have to worry about the Surface to Air missile launchers that dotted the island. Technically the bioship's camouflage mode would have been enough for that, but we were erring on the side of caution in case something went wrong and the camo dropped.

The bioship slowed as we waited for the signal. A few minutes later we got it as Aqualad's voice sounded on the coms. " _Heat and motion sensors are patched. Data's now on a continuous loop. Move in._ "

The ship started to move again, and we finally passed over the island. The clear night plus my own enhanced vision gave me a clear view of the mountainous jungle that covered most of the landmass. Santa Prisca had only really developed towns and cities around the coast, leaving the inland mostly untouched South American rainforest. 'Mostly' being the operative term here, as that also meant it was easy to seclude things you didn't want people to find, like an illegal chemical factory. It was located on the other side of a small mountain from where we were setting down, but we opted to travel the rest of the way on foot so we wouldn't be surprised by anything.

The ship slowed to a stop over a small clearing, and Miss Martian announced "Drop zone B." We all stood up as our chairs and the console merged back into the floor of the ship, and a drop line formed from the ceiling before lowering in front of Robin, Kid Flash and myself. The previous two hooked theirs onto their belts, but I just grabbed a hold of mine. As Kid Flash tapped his chest emblem and his yellow body suit shifted to black, he looked back at Miss Martain. "How cool is this?"

"Very cool." She said with a slight smile as she closed her eyes. A second later her body rippled upwards from her feet, and the skirt and shirt of her outfit was replaced by a formfitting black bodysuit, though the red x and blue cloak were unaffected. It was very close to what Martian Manhunter wore normally, and I actually thought it looked better than her normal outfit.

Wally looked stunned for a moment before he said. "Uh, that works too." He glanced at Starfire and asked "How about you? Does that outfit have the new stealth tech?"

"I wouldn't exactly call making your clothes darker 'stealth tech'." I remarked. I mean, yes it made him harder to see in the dark, but it didn't really compare to optical camo, which did exist in this world. And Batman hadn't gotten me any because it was 'military tech'. No, I wasn't mad about that. Honest.

For her part Starfire let out a little sigh and said "Yes," before tapping the green stone on her chest. In matter of seconds, a black hue spread throughout her clothes, dulling the colors and... well, from an aesthetic standpoint it didn't look that great. Dull and dark colors really didn't compliment Starfire that well. No wonder she looked mildly put out.

Superboy seemed similarly disaffected with the apparel, and he spoke up as Kid Flash turned to talk to him. "No capes, no tights. No offense."

"It totally works for you." The lot of us turned to look at Miss Martian, who gave a start at the attention. "I mean, that you can do good work in those clothes!"

The cabin was filled with an awkward silence for a long moment before I leaned in to Miss Martian, my hand covering my mouth as I said in a stage whisper "Smooth recovery." She flushed at that, and I almost chuckled just before the floor suddenly opened beneath me. I gave a small start of surprise, but fortunately my grip on my tether kept me from plummeting. I glanced back at Miss Martian to see her smirking at me. _Touché_.

All of us of us then were lowered or flew down to the ground, landing deftly on the overgrowth. Well, almost all of us, as a second later we were forced to dodge out of the way as Superboy decided to take the express route down and cratered the forest floor as he leapt from the bioship. "Knew I didn't need a line."

"And yet creating a seismic event may not have helped us much with the _covert_!" Robin yelled at him. The other boy just shrugged at that.

 _And we're off to a great start_ , I thought with a mental sigh as I dusted myself off. I took a quick glance at my environment before my body started to change, my armor thinning as my limbs became more wiry, my claws becoming more pronounced and my tail growing from where the base of my spine should be.

From behind me I head Kid Flash groan. "Seriously? You're changing into that?"

A speaker formed at the base of my neck as my mouth and throat changed to something incapable of human speech. "It's the best form I have for stealth, and it should work perfectly for a jungle environment." I said as my transition to xenomorph finished. "Don't worry, I'll be hanging back in the underbrush, so you won't even see me."

"That makes it _worse_." The speedster complained.

"Aqualad, Drop B is go." Miss Martian said over coms, ignoring the two of us.

We got the response back quickly. " _Head for the factory. I'll track your GPS and rendezvous ASAP._ "

The lot of us nodded and headed out.

* * *

The six of us made good time as we traveled through the jungle, though there was some awkwardness at the start as we tried to settle on a pace for everyone. Superboy and Kid Flash almost got too far ahead of the group, and Starfire couldn't fly too fast without her hair igniting (not great for stealth). Robin ended up setting the pace as he was the sole one of us without super-human movement, though it also helped that his wrist mounted computer had a holographic map of the island.

I had no problems following the rest of them, even as we were forced to travel though rough terrain. I could scale any surface with ease, and moving on all fours allowed me to slip through the undergrowth with little disturbance. I may not have had the training that Robin did, but even back when I was physically human I was good at being light on my feet and maneuvering through spaces, and my new form made that even easier. I was also enjoying another trait of my new body which I hadn't realized until recently: near perfect balance, if I focused on it. Rather than being an organ or device I create, it seemed to be an innate function of the nanites themselves, shifting around my internal mass so that I could stay upright in precarious footing. Useful, though I imagine it will be difficult to maintain the more of my mass I dedicate to shapeshifting solid forms.

All that aside, I was also enjoying everything my enhanced senses were picking up. I could hear the sounds of wildlife a hundred meters away, pick out the heat signatures of my teammates as they moved through the forest, and catch the slightest movement of anything around me. Still, for all of the extra sensory data I was taking in, I still hadn't quite mastered parsing it all at the same time. Which is why, after about an hour of travel, it was Superboy who noticed a sound out of place before I did. "Did you hear that?" He said as he came to a stop.

The moment he spoke, my blindsight caught Robin ducking into the bushes and out of sight. I felt mildly annoyed as I stopped as well and closed my eyes, trying to pinpoint the sound he heard. "No…" Kid Flash said. "Wait, is this a super hearing thing?"

"It is, and I can hear it." I said after I found what I was looking for. "Footsteps. A bunch of them."

"Robin, can you-" Kid Flash started to say before he looked around and saw that we were one teammate down. "Man, I hate it when he does that."

"I saw where he went, I'll find him." I said as I slipped through the underbrush after the boy, radioing him as I did so. "Robin, we lost track of you, where are you going?"

Meanwhile, Aqualad spoke up over the radio. " _Superboy, Kid, Machina, switch to infrared. See if we are being tracked._ "

I already had my visual spectrum widened, so I just stood up a little straighter to do a wide sweep of the section of jungle in front of the group. After a second I spotted what Superboy had heard in a long open clearing up ahead, though Kid Flash beat me to the punch. " _Got a squad of armed bozos incoming._ "

" _Two squads._ " Superboy added. " _But they'll meet each other before they find us._ "

"And Robin is getting front row seats." I said, having finally found the Boy Wonder skulking through the bushes towards the edge of the clearing. I addressed my next comment to him. "You know, next time you might want to let us know you're scouting ahead rather than disappearing on us."

This time he replied in a hushed voice. " _What, do I have to hold your hand? Are you guys even in position?_ "

"…No?" I said. "We just stopped where we were and you vanished. What-"

Whatever I was about to say was interrupted by the sounds of gunfire echoing through the jungle. I focused my attention back on the two groups of men and was surprised to find them shooting at each other. "Oh. I guess they're not friends then." I remarked.

" _Everyone, swing wide!_ " Aqualad said over the coms, his breathing now picking up speed. " _I am almost there, do not engage!_ "

" _Hey, you're not in charge here!_ " Robin whispered back fiercely.

I stopped myself from rolling my eyes before I said "No, but we are trying to stay covert, so it's a good plan anyway." I took a glance around and took a headcount. "I've got eyes on all of us. Starfire, Miss Martian, Superboy, Kid Flash, if you move about ten meters to your left into the underbrush it will move you closer to us and give you better cover."

The rest of my team moved to do so and I returned my attention to the two groups of men shooting at each other, who had moved to hiding behind whatever cover they could find. The first group was dressed in the sort of assorted camo gear and casual clothes I would expect from South American criminals, but the other group was actually clothed in dull red robes, with oddly shaped hoods covering their heads. "Who are these guys…" I mused over the coms.

" _I recognize those outfits, that is the Cult of the Kobra._ " Robin said, still crouched behind a tree and watching with interest. " _International terrorist organization, seeks world domination, pretty standard affair._ "

Kobra? Like in G.I. Joe? But that… oh, now I remember! They were in that episode of _Batman Beyond_ where they tried to warm the Earth via volcanoes and turn themselves into dinosaurs or something. Man, it's weird living in a world where an organization as insane and goofy as that actually exists. I had to stifle a laugh as I thought about someone seriously threatening the world with a dino-transmogrifier bomb-

Suddenly one of the Kobra men's head snapped back with a small spray of blood before he collapsed. I froze and all of my mirth disappeared. That… I had never seen a human being killed before. It… oh.

The skirmish didn't last very long. Kobra had a few more men, but it was clear that the natives knew how to fight in the jungle terrain better. The locals quickly moved to flank the cultists and caught them where they were exposed, mowing two more of them down. Seeing the direction the fight was going, the ones remaining moved to retreat. One of them wasn't fast enough though, and was caught by a huge man who rushed forward and grabbed the cultist from behind. The victim briefly struggled before the larger man snapped his neck, crumpling to the ground like a rag doll. It was then the larger man swung his head around to look at his men, and I saw that it was covered by a mask. Specifically, a black and white luchador's mask.

Bane.

He started to say something to what I assumed were his henchmen, but I couldn't understand his Spanish. Besides which, I had a hard time paying attention when I could see the bodies around them gradually start to cool with my thermal vision. I shut my eyes and shook my head _. Come on man, these are terrorists in a superhero universe. They're about as 'Acceptable Targets' as you can get_ , I tried to tell myself. _Besides, you've already killed two sapients yourself annnnd the guilt has returned. Fuck._

After a moment I heard Aqualad's voice over the radio. " _Machina, we have regrouped. Where are you?_ "

I gave a start and opened my eyes, and found that Bane's group was gone, and so was Robin. I mentally cursed for zoning out for so long and looked around for any sign of my team. Fortunately, they were not too far off and had gathered at the far end of the clearing. "Ah, sorry, I got distracted. I'll be with you in a second."

I made my way through the trees until I reached the others, shifting back into my humanoid shape as I caught the tail end of Robin's sentence. "-those cultists weren't on Venom, so they clearly have taken over the factory for something else. We can't leave, not until I know why."

Kid Flash scowled in annoyance at that. "Until _you_ know why?"

"Yeah, I'm leading this mission, so I say we need to keep going!"

"We never actually agreed to that! You just decided you would be the leader!"

"Enough!" Starfire said loudly, getting everyone's attention. "Now is not the time for such arguments. We have no clear leader for the moment, so we must decide together. What is our course of action?"

"I agree with Robin." Aqualad said. "This situation is more complex than we thought. If Kobra could claim the factory from Bane without the League knowing, there is no telling what else is happening. We need to know more."

I hesitated for a moment before I nodded as well. "Same."

Superboy and Miss Martian looked at each other before they turned back to us and nodded as well. Kid Flash grumbled a little, but he could tell that he was outvoted. Starfire hummed before saying "Then we are agreed. We continue the mission as planned."

"But we now have to plan around Bane and his actions." The Atlantian remarked as he rubbed his chin. "Doubtless he intends to take his factory back, but we don't know how."

"Bane was telling something to the others, but he was speaking Spanish." I said. "Unfortunately, I have no idea what-"

"He mentioned something about a secret entrance." The lot of us turned towards Superboy, who gave a shrug. "He said 'These bastards haven't found my secret entrance yet, we'll come up from right underneath them'. Don't see how he can manage that with just a handful of guys, but…"

Kid Flash arched an eyebrow. "When did you have time to learn Spanish?"

"When I was in the pod." He said, shifting a little bit. "I got a pretty thorough education from the Genomorphs. I can speak most major Earth languages."

Aqualad hummed at that. "A most useful skill, particularly for this mission. We would have missed that otherwise."

"I agree." Starfire said. And before anyone else could do anything she floated over to Superboy and planted her lips on his.

Superboy went completely still, and everyone else let out cries of surprise at shock at this, but I just face palmed. Really… should have told someone about that beforehand. It was Miss Martian who managed to find her voice first. "W-w-what are you doing?!"

The Tamaranian broke contact and turned to the Martian. "Tamaranians have been gifted with the ability to assimilate language through physical contact. I was unaware of Superboy's linguistic knowledge until now, and I felt it would be wise if I had that knowledge for this mission as well."

 _And yet you didn't consider that it might be unwise to surprise our some-percentage Kyptonian teammate like that_ , I thought flatly. Hell, Superboy had almost thrown her the first time she tried hugging him a week ago. She was lucky that he seemed to still be in shock from the kiss to react. It was probably best to treat this like it was normal. "I've already had my turn." I remarked. "That's how she knew English when she got here."

Miss Martian stammered for a few moments before a look of confusion crossed her face. "But… that sounds like a psychic effect, and those don't work on Machina unless he's emulating Martian biotech. How did that work?"

I blinked. That… was a very good question. Now that I thought about it, by all rights it shouldn't have worked. So that meant the effect was… what, magical? Does that even make sense? Starfire herself frowned at this. "I am not sure. The Touch of Communion was studied long ago, but I never personally questioned it. For most the act of touching on first greeting has simply become a cultural standard."

The Martian thought about this for a moment before she shook her head and returned to more important matters. "Wait, if you only need to touch the person, why did you kiss Superboy?"

Starfire smiled slightly. "It's more fun."

I swear I saw the green girl's eyebrow twitch at that, but Kid Flash took this as his cue. "Oh, in that case, I know some French!"

She turned to him. "I know that language now. Do you know any others that might be useful?"

"Well, uh…" The boy said. "I know… ah man."

I shook my head. _Too slow Wally, too slow_ , I thought in amusement. Still, he looked so dejected that I couldn't help but feel a little bad for him. Plus all this teenage nonsense was helping me get out of my own head. _Maybe I could do something that will cheer him up…_ I glanced back at Starfire. "I don't know if any of us know any more earth languages than Superboy, but Miss Martian knows the native Martian language."

"Oh, that is a good point!" Starfire said.

"Wait, what-" Was as far as the green girl got before she found the much taller orange girl kissing her.

 _Yep, totally a mature influence on the team_ , I thought I Miss Martian flailed around in Starfire's grip, and Kid Flash started grinning like it was Christmas. _Still might not want to put this in the debrief though._

=====A=====


	11. 3-3

=====A=====

After a brief lesson on proper mission etiquette/asking permission before you put your tongue down their throat, Aqualad managed to get the lot of us back on track. Bane and his crew had slipped away, but they weren't bothering to hide their trail, and it was clear that they were headed to the same place we were going: the factory. Robin took point with following the trail, and soon enough we found ourselves at the edge of a cliff overlooking a valley, and in a large cleared out space was the building in question. Oddly enough only a small portion of the structure looked like factory, as the much larger front portion was shaped like an airplane hangar or warehouse.

I focused my eyes and my vision zoomed in to get a better look. My attention was drawn to the large open space out front, the center of which was paved over and painted like a target. I saw a multitude of cultists at work haling crates off to the side of the target, some carrying them, others hauling them in by forklift. I then occurred to me what that 'target' was: a landing zone.

Robin, equipped with a pair of binoculars, came to a similar conclusion. "Look at all that product! They're definitely shipping it out somewhere. But they're not using it themselves, and there haven't been any rumors for a buy this large. And there's no way you could keep something this big a secret."

"So we find out where it's going and who it's going to, easy." Kid Flash said before he looked over to our left. "So is that our secret entrance?"

He pointed to a rocky outcropping that rose up before dipping back into the ground. It was hard to see from my angle, but it looked like the entrance to a mining tunnel, framed by wooden supports. "If so, that's a hell of a hike for a secret entrance." I said as I gestured back to the factory. "We're still at least a kilometer out."

"Then we should get moving. We may not have much time." Aqualad remarked.

I hesitated. "I don't like this. We don't know what waiting for us down in that tunnel, or what's on the other side. And all the while we're down there we don't know what going on top side." I said with a frown. "I think we should at least tell the League what's going on."

"No, we can't risk it until we have all the facts." Robin countered quickly. "Maybe if it was just Bane's gang, but Kobra is way better financed. They could have equipment that can intercept our long distance communications."

I gave a small start at that. Our communications not being secure seemed like a huge oversight. I mean, the League does have access to alien tech, and I would think that some of it would include communication systems that can't be compromised by earth based systems. I'd have to look into it when we got back, but for now I had to take Robin at his word. "Alright, but I still don't like it. Too much is happening and we're not seeing it all."

"It would be ill advised to not have adequate information while proceeding with the mission." Starfire agreed. "But to do so, one or some of us will have to play the part of rear scout, to ensure that there are no surprises for the others while they are in the den of cobras."

I let out a breath. "Well, I guess that's me then. If I'm here to 'observe', I might as well play look out."

Aqualad looked at me for a moment before he nodded. "Agreed, I will stay as well-"

"No." I cut him off. "If things go wrong you lot are going to need all of you to back each other up. Besides, no one else can both move and hide like I can except for maybe Robin, and you'll need the expert on the inside. I can handle this on my own."

The Atlantian looked wary. "Are you sure?"

"I've got super-senses, stealth, and I'm very tough. Besides, no matter what happens out here, it's going to be less dangerous than it will be in there. I got this."

He stared at me for a long moment before he glanced at Robin, the boy simply shrugging in response. He then looked back at me. "Very well. Stay in radio contact and kept us informed if anything changes."

"You got it." I said before I moved to the edge of the cliff, my arm changing into a grapple gun as I reached the lip. _Here's to hoping I'm not biting off more than I can chew_ , I thought as I fired the hook into the ground, giving my team one last look. "Good luck." I said before I threw myself off the edge and rappelled to the valley below.

* * *

I had changed back into my xenomorph form the moment I reached the ground and made a beeline for the factory as fast as I could move. I had never really had the chance back at the Mountain to test my movement capabilities to their fullest simply due to space limitations, but now that I was on my own I finally had the chance to open up. It felt almost unreal the speed at which the jungle passed me by, barely letting my surroundings register as I ran and leapt through the forest. I'm sure my pace wasn't anything special compared to Kid Flash, but for me it felt exhilarating.

All too soon the jungle opened up in front of me and I slowed to a stop at the edge of the massive clearing which held the factory. The angle at which I had approached it left me closer to the landing pad than the structure itself, but I still had a clear view of the front entrance. Activity near the landing pad had died down, with only a handful of cultists guarding the stacked up pile of crates next to it. I activated my com. "Machina to team, looks like Kobra has finished getting the shipment ready. Now they're waiting on something."

"Acknowledged, keep us posted." Aqualad said back.

I started to skirt around the edge of the clearing, both to get a better view and to keep an eye out for any patrols that might spot me. It didn't look like I had much to worry about though, as everyone I could spot was staying close to the building or the product. About a minute went by before I noticed activity from the warehouse structure, as a small party of unique individuals made their way out of the front entrance with a procession of armed cultists on either side. The one in the center was wrapped in a Kobra cloak which obscured his features, and to his left was a teenage girl with half her head shaved and dressed in purples and blacks. To his right though…

 _Ugh, really need to cut back on your gains, buddy_ , I thought to myself as I looked at the nine foot tall behemoth of a man. Dressed only in tattered shorts, the man's muscles were so overdeveloped that his skin had torn open from the expansion and there were exposed muscles in the seams. His hair was a wild mass of faded red, and his face looked almost gorilla like. To be honest he looked a lot like Mammoth from the Teen Titans show, only more grotesque (and I'd probably be mentally calling him that until someone corrected me). There being more super-powered villains here would definitely complicate things. Hopefully there weren't even more villains vying for this illegal drugs factory waiting to pop out and make things worse.

I swear to Christ if Snowflame shows up I was going to flip my shit.

It was then a new sound started to echo through the jungle, a sort of _wumpa-wumpa_ that was steadily growing louder. It wasn't long before the sound resolved itself into a large cargo helicopter flying overhead, slowing as it came to hover and then land on the landing pad. As the rotors wound down I saw a single figure exit the pilot's seat and head towards the approaching cultists. He was a heavily muscled man with blonde hair wearing cargo pants and a thick blue vest, with armored pads covering his arms. His face was covered by metal hockey mask, but I remembered the Casey Jones look-alike from when I had been browsing the League's villain database. _Sportsmaster… he's a mercenary. Someone must have hired him to transport the goods. But who-?_

That was as far as my thoughts went before something exploded.

My head snapped back towards the warehouse in time to see a fire ball shoot out of the entrance, a couple of cultists being tossed out or lit on fire by the explosion. I could hear gunfire a second later along with flashes of light from the high windows of the building.

As I saw cultists ready their guns and Mammoth charge back towards the flames without hesitation, I frantically tried to com my team. "Guys, things are exploding and people are shooting! What's going on?!"

I got no response, instead hearing a continual drone of static. I felt a brief moment of pure terror before I noticed that the static had suddenly appeared across a wide spectrum of radio frequencies. I calmed for a moment. Not dead, just being jammed.

The moment passed quickly though, and I froze in realization. I was alone on an island with two different terrorist organization who wanted me and my teammates dead. And I now had no way of contacting anyone.

Shit.

I turned my attention back to the chaos in front of me just in time to see Bane barrel out of the doors to the warehouse, far more heavily built than when I had saw him last (guess he found some Venom to use) and running straight at Mammoth. The larger metahuman let out an inhuman roar as he charged the other man head on, but at the last second Bane went low and to the side, knocking Mammoth off his feet before continuing his run at the group near the landing pad. The cultists opened fire at him, but he managed to dodge to the side fast enough that he had time to toss a bundled of grenades at his target.

I saw the group scatter before the bundle reached them, sailing past the group to land amide the pile of crates. There was a second before the whole thing exploded, fiery debris flying everywhere. The lot who had dodged out of the way regrouped and tried to take aim at Bane, but Mammoth had already recovered and was trying to crush the luchador's skull in with wild swings, blocking line of sight for his allies.

I twitched anxiously as I watched all of this unfold. I had no idea what to do. Ostensibly I should do nothing and wait for the team to sort this out, as I was just 'support'. But I couldn't just do nothing with all of this chaos happening and my teammates potentially in danger. I forced myself to calm down and think about the situation. _Ok, just because you can't contact them doesn't mean they're in trouble. Bane probably set the jammer himself to use against Kobra, not against us. Neither side should have any idea that we're here-_

Suddenly the sounds of combat in the warehouse reached a new volume, a series of green energy bolts ripped their way through the factory wall, detonating a small pile of munitions. _…_ _Never mind._

Alright, so what was the mission objective now? Our cover has apparently been blown, the people we were sent to report on are scrambling for cover, and I wasn't sure the factory would even be left standing after tonight. Calling off the mission would probably be the smartest thing, but right now my teammates are in the thick of it and I have no real way to help them. The only way that this might be made worthwhile is if we could capture the commanding Kobra operative and/or Sportsmaster and make them talk. And at the moment they had too many methods of escape.

My eyes fell on the cargo helicopter as Sportsmaster made a run for it, and I noticed something shimmering underneath the craft. Focusing my eyes on it, I realized that there was a growing puddle of fuel leaking out onto the ground, slowly flowing out from a small hole that must have been made by shrapnel. I paused for a moment as my eyes shifted left and right. _I'm not supposed to take action… but these are extenuating circumstances_ , I thought to myself as my arm shifted into a small laser cannon. An infrared laser cannon to be precise, as when I took aim and fired, the beam was almost completely invisible save for a wavering in the air. It wasn't a very powerful shot, but it was enough to ignite the fuel and cause flames to start spreading.

 _There, that should make it useless, without making it explode or something dramatic_ , I thought to myself as my arm changed back to normal. Contrary to popular belief, it is very difficult for gasoline (and various other petroleum fuel) based vehicles to explode by lighting them on fire. The fuel is made so that is only explodes under the right conditions, like those made inside a piston engine. So, while the fire would certainly destroy the helicopter from the inside out, it shouldn't go boom.

 _But wait, you're in a superhero universe,_ a voice spoke up from the back of my mind. _How do you know that everything isn't made of explodium here?_

…Well-

It was of course at that moment the helicopter exploded.

It wasn't that large of an explosion, just enough to blow the fuselage open, but I winced all the same. _I'm going to stop making assumptions now_ , I thought as I nervously looked around for anyone that might have been injured by the blast. Thankfully I spotted Sportsmaster sprinting away from the burning wreck, and no one else seemed to be nearby.

I tried to get eyes back on the action, but everything was slowly devolving into chaos. Bane and Mammoth's fight had moved back into the warehouse (through a wall), and I could see flashes of people shooting at each other through the entrance. For a second I argued with myself about simply screwing what Batman told me and diving in to help, but I was stopped when I caught sight of Mammoth flying back through the gaps in the wall. He managed to land on his feet and slide to a stop, but Starfire flew into him fists first. The inhuman meta roared in pain as he staggered and swung his fist at the smaller woman, but she juked to the side in the air. She then darted back in and grabbed his extend arm, giving a scream of her own as she twisted and spun Mammoth around her before tossing him into the air.

It was then Superboy came out of nowhere, jumping through the air with both his hands clasped over his head like he was going to spike a volleyball. And unfortunately for Mammoth, he was the ball in this scenario. The sound of Superboy's strike was only exceeded by Mammoth crashing into the ground, and when the dust cleared it was clear the metahuman wasn't getting back up again. I saw Starfire nod and say something to her teammate before she gestured in a direction, and the two of them split up as they ran back into the building.

 _…_ _well that was fucking awesome._ I thought to myself as I sat on my haunches. Looked like they were handling things just fine without me. I felt both a bit relieved and a bit guilty about that. Still didn't help me figure out what I was supposed to be doing thou- _wait a second, where did Sportsmaster and that head cultist go?_

I sat up straighter as I looked around, scanning the area outside of the warehouse to see where they had gotten off to. I almost missed it, but my infrared vision let me see a group of people on the other side of the clearing, making their way away from the mess the factory had turned into. It was hard to get details, but I could identify Sportsmaster's profile amidst them.

I hesitated, looking at the retreating group before looking back at the factory. I tried the coms again but I still got jamming static. _Damn it, now what?_ I thought to myself. _I want to regroup with the others, but I don't know for certain where they are in there, and I am certain that those guys will have escaped by the time I find them_. Normally I wouldn't have thought of anything but regrouping considering this was a covert mission… but, again, that had kinda already been blown by this point. If we didn't find out why Kobra had wanted the factory in the first place, or who the hell Sportsmaster was bringing the stuff to, the whole mission was for nothing.

I waited for a few more seconds before I let out a breath and headed after the group of terrorists. I wasn't going to try to take them down or anything, but if I was careful I might be about to hear something that would make this whole trip worthwhile.

* * *

Unfortunately, the group was mostly silent as they moved, focusing on navigating the terrain rather than conversing with one another. Some of their guards called out to each other to check what they were looking at, but the VIPs weren't talking. _Maybe if I moved in and got a closer look,_ I thought to myself.

I got my chance a few minutes later when the party ran afoul of a ravine, and they stopped as the five guard cultists argued with each other (presumably about how to get around it). I carefully crept forward through the underbrush as I tried to get a good look at the people in the middle of the group. Finally, when I was almost right next to the open ground, I managed to get a clear view of the one I assumed was the leader. The red cloaked man was extremely pale, and his skin had an almost scaly texture to it. Combined with the almost completely flat nose, it gave him a reptilian look. I didn't know much at all about Kobra, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that they gene modded their higher ranking personal. It also made me wonder about the teen girl next to him and just what her position was in the organization.

Either way, it was Sportsmaster who got my attention the most, as I noticed that he was more heavily armed than when I had last seen him. There was a pistol strapped to his hip and a high tech rifle slung across his back. Even with them stopped his posture was still tense, his head moving around to search for threats. I was as still as possible when his gaze swept over my position, and he didn't seem to react.

As I once again tried to com my team (still jammed), the Kobra leader spoke up. "I do hope that our… partners will not be too aggravated by this turn of events."

Sportsmaster snorted. "You let a second-rate thug take you by surprise and destroy the shipment. Hard to put that in a favorable light."

"The situation would have been handled if not for the additional interference of those heroes." The man replied coldly.

"Yeah, well, it seems this island is pretty popular this time of year." Sportsmaster suddenly spun and hurled something straight at my position. I had only a fraction of a second to think _Shit!_ before I tossed myself to the side. I managed to catch sight of what I thought was a javelin come within inches of me-

An explosion detonated right next to me and sent me tumbling through the underbrush, pain searing into the half of my body that faced the blast. I might have let out a scream before I landed and got my feet back under me, scrambling to get back into cover. It was only a second or two before I was hidden again and the damage had been healed (it was pretty superficial damage). I heard some frantic Spanish from the guards before I managed to catch the tail end of what the high ranking cultist was saying. "-was that?" He said.

"Don't know…" Sportmaster said, and I heard the sound of metal on metal. "But I have the feeling that it's not gone. Everyone, fan out and find it."

I felt more than saw several of the guards move into the dense jungle, and I slinked back further into the foliage. _Crap. So much for stealth_. I thought. _I should probably just book it_. And yet… I didn't want to. Even if I wasn't supposed to, if I didn't do something useful… what good was I?

For a moment I lay still in the bushes, watching the men split up and move in different directions through the jungle. Then I started to creep forward. _Fuck it, I'm going to_ Arkham Asylum _this shit._

The first was simple enough. He was the one who happened to get the closest to me in the search pattern, and his closest ally was about 5 meters away. As I slipped closer, my aerokinetic core formed in my chest and the 'flesh' of my arms became rougher as small spines formed, the material underneath becoming more mesh-like. I moved slowly, keeping out of his line of sight as I followed in his steps behind him. I got to within a foot of the cultist before he started to turn around.

In an instant I sprang up from underneath the man and grabbed him by the chest, quickly dragging him down to the ground. He only managed to get out a short strangled cry before I shocked him into unconsciousness. I silently thanked Aqualad for teaching me the correct hand placement and voltage for knocking out a man with electricity rather than killing him as I turned my attention to the men nearby. Unfortunately they had heard their companion go down, and were hustling to his position.

I slipped away as quickly as I could, flitting behind the trunk of a nearby tree. The cultists didn't seem to notice, instead focusing on their downed comrade for a moment before hefting their guns and looking around warily. Experimentally, I messed around with my hearing until I managed to pick out their heartbeats, beating faster than normal but not panicked yet. Just had to wait for them to slip up…

I saw my chance when one of them started rapidly spouting off orders, pointing in various directions as he did so. In the instant when the other three were looking in the direction he was pointing, I pounced out of my hiding spot, launching off the tree for leverage as I sailed towards the one who took charge. I plowed into him hard enough that I felt something crack underneath my hands, and sent both of us tumbling across the ground. _Shit!_ I thought as I managed to keep my grip on him and shocked him to unconsciousness by the time we came to a stop. I wasn't used to attacking normal humans, I had put too much force into that. I quickly looked the man over, trying to see if-

Unfortunately, that was when one of the remaining men seemed to lose his nerve, letting out a terrified scream before opening up with his assault rifle at my (and his friends) position. Before I knew what I was doing I moved out of reflex, juking left and right before I ended up behind a large bolder. I felt a small bit of pain from my shoulder and midriff, but ignored it as I peered around the rock. The three men standing looked terrified as they pointed their guns at my position, but most of my attention was on the man I had just downed. His body wasn't moving and I could see blood starting to pool around him.

I… that man was dead because of me. Not directly, his 'friend' was the one that pulled the trigger, but my actions led to it. _But I couldn't have… I didn't think they… ah fuck_. As I thought, I idly noticed a pair of bullets falling to the ground at my feet, and I saw the holes in my body seal quickly.

I sat there for a moment longer before I let out a breath, the air hissing through my bared teeth. On my back I formed another speaker, this one much stronger than the one at my throat, and started blasting sound from it. Not audible sound but infrasound, around 18 hertz. I had read a while ago that sounds around that frequencies weren't audible to humans consciously, but a percentage of people hear it subconsciously and cause them to feel fear.

Wasn't sure if it was true or not, but now seemed the time to find out.

The men didn't see me as I moved from my position, and as I stalked around them I took care to pick up small rocks and toss them at trees around them. Each time a rock hit the jumpy one opened fire on the foliage, terror clearly overriding any thoughts he had. The other two weren't doing much better, and their partner's panic was making it worse. Soon one of them snapped and turned to scream at the panicking one, and that was the moment I dashed in. I didn't bother sneaking this time, I just moved in a zig-zagging blur towards them. I was spotted and one of them managed to open fire on me before I reached them. I think a bullet or two hit me, but I didn't care. Before they knew it I was on them, and I reared up and slammed my palm into the nearest man with enough force to send him to the ground, and arc of electricity visible from the strike.

At that point, one of the two remaining cultists turned and ran, but I paid him no mind. My attention was focused on the panicky one, the one who was currently staring at me trembling, his eyes wide. I slowly rose to my full height, my tail sweeping out in front of me as lightning sparked up and down my arms. My mouth opened and I let out a hiss as I moved towards him. The cultist dropped his gun and stumbled back from me, whimpering in fear as he tried to get away. He ended up tripping over his own robes and fell to the ground, scrambling to his knees as I loomed over him. His hands clasped together and he started to speak in rapid fire Spanish, his eyes wet and wild as he spoke.

He was praying. Maybe even praying to me, that he would live. I could almost feel the fear I was causing him, the power it gave me over the man. It was… it was…

Disgusting. Oh god, what am I doing?

Before I could do anything, I felt something slam into the side of my head with crushing force. I was knocked to the ground and fell into a heap. The pain wasn't any worse than what I had felt before, but I stopped myself from getting to my feet immediately. I moved slowly and shakily, feigning injury as I looked at the man who had gotten the drop on me. "Well, just what in the hell do we have here?" Sportsmaster said as he stood a short distance away, a metal ball on the end of a chain held in his hands. "What are you, some kind of bioweapon? Didn't know anyone else was in that market." He started to spin up the chain fast enough that the ball became a blur. "Well, not sure who made you, but I bet Brain would pay me well if I handed you over."

The meteor hammer shot towards me but with a burst of speed I rolled to the side at the last second. The metal ball imbedded itself into the ground where I had lain before I darted back in and grabbed the weapon, sending an electric shock through the metal. Sportsmaster's instincts must have been very good through, as he let go of the chain the moment before I touched it. The current was powerful enough that electricity arced from the chain to his hands as it fell, but it only caused him to flinch back rather than pass out. "Arg! All right, so you're-"

I didn't give him the chance to finish as I immediately shot forward and slashed at him with my claws. The mercenary ducked back with surprising speed, but I pressed forward, slashing and jabbing at him from every angle I could. The man weaved and dodged as best he could, but I could tell he was having an awkward time of it, both due to the terrain and my non-human physiology. It came to a head when he found his back against a tree, and I got ready to pounce. In that moment though he grabbed something out of his belt pouch and tossed it to the ground, causing a brilliant flash and plume of smoke between us. It only slowed me down for a second (it didn't stop my blindsight), but that was all the time Sportsmaster needed to unholster the high tech pistol at his waist. He took aim and fired three quick shots of what must have been plasma into me, burning holes into my torso.

I hissed in pain as I reeled back, but I turned it into a spinning motion as I crouched low and lashed out with my tail. I tried to spear the pointed tip through the pistol itself, but my aim wasn't perfect, and instead my extra limb just slammed into his arm. Still, it knocked the weapon out of his hand. To my surprise though, Sportsmaster then simply grabbed my tail with both hands and swung, lifting me off the ground and slamming me into a tree with enough force to crack the trunk. To be honest it was more surprising than painful, but it distracted me long enough for him to build up momentum and hurl me away before I could morph my tail into a taser.

I landed and turned to him just in time to see him pull the rifle from off of his back and- argh! More red bolts of plasma bit into my body as I was forced to scramble away, ducking into a small ditch just out of sight.

"That the best you got, you deformed mutt?" I hear the mercenary call out as his footsteps approached. "If so, I'm going to have to take you to the pound."

I forced myself to remain quiet as my nanites moved to repair the damage the plasma had done. Alright. There were some things I had to acknowledge. Such as the fact that the man before me was an expert mercenary. And to become that in this universe with superheroes running around, that required a level of martial skill and physical aptitude that would be unheard of in my world. And then there was the fact that for all my new superpowers I just some guy who fell into all of this and has only had about two weeks of self-training.

But I _refused_ to lose to a man who willingly chose to call himself Sportsmaster!

My body started to expand as my build became more powerful, and all over my 'skin' rippled as it was replaced by electro-conductive spines and Faraday cage mesh. Lightning started to crackle all over my body as the aerokinetic core started to charge up. My hands grew wider to support my mass, and my head became bulkier. If my previous form could be related to a dog, my new one was closer to a tiger. Mixed with a thunderstorm.

With an explosion of motion and electricity I moved, tearing through the jungle and skirting around Sportsmaster's position. I briefly heard the man shout "What the f-!" before he backed away and opened fire with his plasma rifle. The shots went wide not just because of how I was moving, but the blinding light of the electricity arcing off of me. His night vision was ruined and the rapid flashing of lights made his vision even worse.

I pushed myself more and the lightning arcing off of me started tearing into the jungle around Sportsmaster. My aim wasn't the best in this state, but the bolts exploded around his position with enough force to make him stumble and throw of his aim even more. "Screw this, I'm not being paid nearly enough for this shit!" He shouted before he turned and simply ran.

I then moved to chase directly after him, tearing through the jungle with far less grace than I had before. As lightning scoured my path for me, Sportsmaster took blind shots as he tried to shake me from his tail. It was no use though, and soon I was close enough that I leapt into the air and fired a more directed bolt from my claw. The bolt impacted right in front of the mercenary, causing him to draw up short as I landed in front of him. He drew his rifle up and fired, but I powered through it and knocked him to the ground.

One massive claw pining his chest, the other one reached out and snatched the plasma rifle out of his hand, my assimilation spikes consuming it in a matter of moments. Peering at Sportsmaster's eyes behind his mask, I could see his first real traces of fear. "Uhh… nice doggie?" He said hopefully.

I leaned my head in close to his. "Woof." I said before I shocked him into unconsciousness.

Everything was calm for a long moment before I looked around, actually taking in the destruction I had caused. It was then I realized that I had no idea where the Kobra leader was, and was probably long gone by now. _God damn it_ , I thought. _All that sound and fury just to take down one unpowered mercenary. I really am shit at this._

The static on my radio suddenly stopped and a voice came through loud and clear. "Machina, are you there? Respond."

I gave a start before I replied "Aqualad! What happened? Is everyone alright?"

"The team is largely uninjured, save for a few minor scraps." He said, and I let out a sigh of relief as he continued. "We managed to find our way into the factory, but Bane attacked the cultists just as we arrived, and we were uncovered in the process. Fortunately Starfire managed to rally us and we played Bane's forces off of Kobra's until we came out on top. What about you? Are you nearby?"

"Not… exactly." I said. "After the attack started, I saw the lead cultist and the person who came in the helicopter, a mercenary named Sportsmaster, try to make a run for it. I followed them and… well, things didn't quite go as planned, but I captured Sportsmaster."

There was a long moment of silence before he responded. "I see. Remain where you are, we will track your position via your com and pick you up."

"Understood." I said before I signed off, once again looking around with a sigh.

Batman's not going to be happy about this one.

=====A=====


	12. 3-4

=====A=====

I felt somewhat out of sorts as I walked across the grassy commons of Royal University, the buildings lining the area on either side a mix of old university architecture and modern trappings. My discomfort might have had do with the fact that this was the first time I had left the Mountain and gone to a city in weeks. Or that I was also completely by myself for the first time in weeks.

Also, pants! I was wearing pants for the first time in weeks too. I mean, I was also wearing a light, hooded windbreaker along with sneakers and gloves too, but the pants get a special mention because I hadn't realized how much I missed having pockets until I slid them on. In any case, the clothes helped me be a bit more inconspicuous than usual, as while my meeting with Doctor Serling Roquette wasn't exactly a secret, I also didn't want to draw too much attention or cause a scene. I still got a few odd glances, as I was a very large man dressed to almost completely cover himself in the middle of summer, but I was still less noticeable than a grey semi-robot man.

I adjusted my sunglasses as I stopped and came to a fountain, trying to get my bearings and figure out which way it was to the Nano-engineering building. It didn't take long, as I quickly spotted the sole building in sight that didn't even try to look like it had been made at the turn of the last century. A large building of steel and glass built in a sort of rhombus shape, it seemed to be half structure/ half art piece. I hefted the backpack over my shoulder and made my way there, though as I walked I continued to turn over what had happened two days ago over in my mind.

Batman's debrief on the Santa Prisca mission wasn't quite the dressing down that I expected. To be sure, he was not entirely pleased with how things went, but he admitted that given the interference of Kobra and Bane's response, the team handled the situation as best they could. He still pointed out many minor flaws in our actions, but was overall positive. (Plus, Kobra's involvement actually helped when we called the League in, because the UN gives the League carte blanche when dealing with organizations that have been declared a threat to international stability).

He did have a few pointed words with me when he pulled me to the side though, mostly about how I suddenly went from 'support and observe' to 'taking down five gunmen and a world renowned mercenary'. When I explained to him how that ended up happening he… well, to be honest Batman has perfected the blank stare, it was hard to tell just what he thought about it. He listened to me tell him how I thought I was partially responsible for the death of that one cultist, but he didn't condemn me or remove me from the team. All he said was: "You did a good job. Until you're cleared for active service, never do it again."

I'm not sure how I felt about that.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I realized that I was standing in front of a reinforced door with an intercom next to it, having already walked into the building and down into its lower levels. _Good lord, that habit of mine is even worse now_ , I thought as I shook my head. I always had a habit of spacing out when I walked places, though it would sometimes result in me arriving and not remembering the trip at all. In any case, I checked the number over the door to match it with the lab that Mr. Kord had told me about before I reached out and pressed a button on the intercom. "Uh, Hello? Doctor Roquette?"

There was a moment's pause before the speaker crackled to life in response. "Yes, what is it?" came the terse reply.

"Ted Kord contacted you a few days ago about a Justice League matter that required your expertise." I said.

A sigh. "Right, that was today. Alright, come in."

The door buzzed and I let myself in. The large lab looked every bit a scientist's domain, with rows of tables carrying a number of high tech machines like microscopes, computers, fabricators, mechanical actuators, boxes with blinky lights on them that probably cost more than my old yearly salary, the works. And at the far end of the room there was a blonde woman in a lab coat with her back to me, hunched over a high tech microscope. Before I could say anything, she spoke as she started to turn from the bench. "I swear, this better not be another one of Kord's ploys to try to get me to work for him, because for the last time I-"

She cut herself off as she finished turning. The Nanotechnology expert was a surprisingly young and fairly attractive woman, with a pleasantly shaped face and glasses covering her blue eyes. And said eyes widened as she got a clear look at me pulling back my hood. "Uh, hi." I said awkwardly as I pulled off my sunglasses. "I have no idea what's going on between you and Mr. Kord, but I am really here on League business."

"N-nothing's going- I just-" She stuttered a little as she stared at me, and I felt suddenly uncomfortable. I had known that some people would be taken aback by my appearance, but this was the first time I had actually had it happen to me. Maybe if I could have at least given myself human like eyes rather than solid grey ones it would have helped a little, but…

The doctor seemed to get over her surprise and noticed my discomfort, and her expression turned sheepish. "Sorry. Kord has tried to hire me for his company a number of times, and I figured this was another attempt. I wasn't expecting a real superhero to show up in civies, though I'm afraid I'm not familiar with you."

"I'm not-" I started to say automatically before I remembered, no, I actually kinda was a superhero now. _That's going to take some getting used to_ , I thought as I stepped forward. "My name is Machina, I'm an associate League member. Thank you for seeing me." I said as I extended my hand.

She took it. "Well, from the way Kord was describing it, this would result in a serious advancement in my research." She said as she let go. Then there was a long pause as she looked at me expectantly. "So? Where's the sample?"

I blinked. "Wait, how much did Mr. Kord tell you?"

"Just that a member of the League had some nanotech they wanted analyzed. Said that it was very active."

I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. I don't know if Kord didn't tell her the whole story because he wanted to keep things as confidential as possible or because he found it more amusing to have her find out in person. Given what I knew about him, it was probably both. "Well, the thing is…" I said as I pulled of my gloves, raising my hand in front of me as I willed my hand to split into a mass of tendrils. "I am the sample. My entire body is made out of nanites."

Doctor Roquette's jaw dropped open as she watched my hand morph through several different configurations before it settled back into a human limb. "That-! You-! But how-?!" She looked up at me. "I have so many questions."

"You and me both." I said with a sigh. "I barely understand how these damn things work. That's why I've come to you."

I'm not sure how much Roquette was paying attention to what I was saying as she took my hand and started examining it closely. "You feel completely solid, how are you maintaining cohesion, what software architecture are you using, who made you-" She stopped and looked back up at me as she finally seemed to register what I had said. "Wait, what do you mean you don't understand how they work?"

"I mean, I don't understand how they work. I'm just some guy who got eaten by these things and somehow ended up in control of them."

"Wait, you're human?!" She pulled back in shock. "Your nanites are so advanced that they can digitize human consciousness?! How?! I've spent years developing the theory and technology for direct data removal, and someone else has already figured out how to do it to people?!"

I sighed. "I'm going with post-human. And you might want to sit down while I explain." As she did, I then gave an abbreviated version of what happened to me a few weeks prior. My abduction, my transformation, and what I had done thus far with what I had become. Needless to say, she was practically vibrating on the spot by the time I wound down.

" _Alien_ nanotechnology?" she said incredulously. "This is huge. If it really is as advanced as it seems to be, studying it could advance my research by decades!"

"And help me understand how my body works." I said pointedly.

"Oh, uh, that too." She said with a wave of her hand. "That said, we might run into some problems if your nanites are made out of materials not available on Earth."

"I can't speak for their structure, but thankfully my nanites are made up of normal stuff found of the periodic table. Scans show that I'm primarily made up of iron, silicon, carbon, and hydrogen. The rarest element I'm composed of is iridium." Thankfully the amount was absolutely minuscule compared the rest of my mass, but I still needed it. The League had managed to get me a small amount, but I would still have to be careful not to lose what I had. I had just recently managed to assimilate a copy of the molecular forge on the Psion ship, but it wouldn't help me in this case.

Speaking of which, I had finally gotten an inventory of equipment from the damn ship, plus a few smaller items. Most of it wasn't much more useful than the tricorder or laser rifle I had already consumed, but one thing of particular note was a personal force field generator. The thing wasn't really optimized for combat as I couldn't move or shoot through it while it was on, but I would have to work on that later. The molecular forge had been built into the ship, and I had to convince John Stewart to make me a functioning copy using his ring (I owe him a favor now, by the way).

Roquette blinked. "Scans?

I nodded as I slid my backpack off. "From a Green Lantern ring, no less, so it should give you plenty of information." I reached in and pulled out a laptop, turning it on as I placed it in front of her. "I've been told that you and this lab have Level One Meta-Affairs clearance, so-"

"Yes, yes, look only, no downloading onto other devices." The scientist said dismissively and she focused her attention on the laptop Ted Kord had given me.

Turned out there was actually a procedure when it came to introducing new people to potentially sensitive information pertaining to the League. Recognizing that there would be times that the Justice League would need to pull on certain individuals or organizations, the UN had established a security clearance system which cleared people to know sensitive information. Level One meant they could analyze information and technology that the League uses, and Level Two meant that they could store and actively work on materials and data directly tied to the League (This is what STAR labs and Kord Industries have). Level Three applies to associate League members like myself and the team.

The woman settled into silence as she rapidly scrolled through the information, only soft murmurs coming from her as she focused. I found a chair and settled down into it, letting the woman think. As time passed I glanced around the room and tried to guess what each machine did. I wasn't confident about a lot of them, but I was certain about the nanoforges and had a rough idea how they worked. I had been spending most of my free time studying the technology of this world and how it worked, and not having to sleep did have its advantages in that respect.

"What is a Bleed portal?" I blinked as I turned my attention back to the scientist, who was giving me a confused look. "It says here that your nanites get their power from Bleed portals, but it can't even fathom what that means."

"Oh, the Bleed is what we call the space between dimensions. Physics are in constant flux there, and generators can exploit this by picking the laws they want and more or less create free energy. It's also where I store my extra mass." I wasn't completely clear on the mechanics of it, but apparently the nanites could store themselves in the Bleed; connected to my main body, but inactive. I couldn't store anything larger than nanites or molecules (portals were too small), and I could only store about as much mass again as my armored humanoid form (for some arbitrary reason I had yet to figure out).

Roquette boggled as me for a moment and opened her mouth to say something, but after a moment she just shook her head and went back to studying the screen. There was a sort of nervous excitement to her posture as she scanned through the files, and the way she bit her lip as she got to a new section… Err, maybe she was a little _too_ interested in her work.

Finally, she leaned back and let out a breath. "Wow. This is… I never considered emulating biological functionality quite like that. I studied robotics because I found biology too messy, but this is like making cells cybernetic, and then wiring them together with one of the most elegant neural networks I've ever seen. And that's just the bits I can understand." She looked towards me. "So… what exactly did you say you need help with?"

"I have two specific problems I was hoping you could help me solve. The first is that, while I can copy any hardware I consume, I can't do the same with software."

"What?" The doctor said in confusion. "But, that doesn't make any sense. Nanites that advanced shouldn't have any problems assimilating pure data, least of all from comparatively simple systems like ours. I mean, you're obviously storing your different 'configurations' somehow." She paused before she said. "Wait a minute, didn't you also say that you can, how did you put it, 'destructively interface' with machines too?"

"Yeah, if I partially consume something in just the right way, it seems to work." I said before I sighed. "But I don't… download information directly, it just seems to get parsed into a physical senses and I experience it. And subsequent attempts on the same hardware haven't been getting any easier."

Rouquette's brow furrowed as she cupped her chin in thought. "That definitely means that your nanites can absorb digital information. But, it sounds like their genetically creating a temporary virtual machine every time? Why would anyone build them to do that rather than just learn? Hell, my own nanites are able to strip data from systems, and could probably run programs if I gave them the correct configurations to reassemble into."

I perked up at that. "Wait, seriously? That sounds like exactly the sort of thing I need. If I assimilated some of those-"

Before I could finish she shot me a withering look. "Do you have a spare $500,000 you could give to the University to pay for another batch? Because that was the grant given to me to start my research and make about 100 grams worth."

"Well, I probably only need a little-"

"Even if I were inclined to hand over some of it to you, those nanites are University property. You'll have to convince them, not me." I deflated a little at this, and she sighed as her tone softened. "I'm sorry, it's just… this is my life's work here. I get a little testy about people taking it away from me." She paused. "What was the other problem?"

"The other issue…" I hesitated a bit before I continued. "I've lost a lot of physical sensation since I got this body. I've managed to get sight and sound working even better than before, but smell and taste are gone. Touch is… finicky. I can feel pain when parts of me get damaged, and I have a muted sense of pressure, like when you're wearing thick gloves. Nothing I have consumed thus far has helped."

I started to pace as that small constant frustration starts to leak out of me. "I… I'm starting to worry I'm going to forget what things are supposed to feel like before I get this fixed. If I get this fixed." I let out a short bitter laugh. "You know what's funny? I don't actually have to breathe. It's purely psychosomatic. It's also one of the few things that helps calm me down when I start freaking out about all the other little bits of humanity I've lost." I could ignore breathing if I had to, but it made me… uncomfortable.

Roquette frowned. "I can see how that would be upsetting, but… Well, the scans are nice, but I'm going to need to poke at your 'software' personally before I can give you any solutions."

"I can help with that too, a little bit." I said I reached into my backpack and pulled out some kind of dongle attachment for the laptop, one end looking like a four pronged tuning fork. "Mr. Kord said he installed some claytronics-grade debugging software into the laptop-"

The woman cut me off with a snort. "Of course the man just assumes that all you need is a laptop rather than specialized equipment." She said, but she still took the connector away from me. She gave it a once over before she grunted. "Multiphase signal modulator. I guess it will do for a first pass." She plugged one end into the laptop and held the other end out to me before she hesitated. "So, how are you…?"

I pushed my hand straight into the prongs, my 'flesh' parting and molding around it. She blinked at that before turning back to the computer. "You must be all the rage at parties." She remarked dryly.

"Oh, I leave them screaming." I replied.

It was difficult for me to describe what followed next over the course of a half hour, mostly because it mostly felt like nothing at all. The doctor told me that she was sending various kinds of signals into my body to see what came out, but while I felt some tingling that was about it. Most of the time Roquette was muttering under her breath, frequently angry as her tests kept producing null results. I couldn't really understand the data or oscillating lines flowing across the screen, but I was getting the impression that my nanites didn't want to talk. Towards the end I was about to ask something-

I suddenly sat up straight, the tingling sensation transforming into something else entirely. "What the hell was that?"

"Yes!" Roquette yelled as she stared at the screen. "Tell me what you felt!"

I hesitated as I tried to parse the sensation. "It... felt like someone was knocking on the door to my brain." The woman pressed a button on the laptop and I twitched. "Yep, definitely knocking."

The doctor grinned and started typing away. "My dear Machina, I believe I've just isolated your consciousness emulation."

"Really? That's amazing! What else can you do?"

At that her face fell. "With this rig, almost nothing." She said, gesturing to the laptop as she sat down in a chair next to her. "It's far too simple to properly analyze nanotech as advanced as what you're made off, especially when it's actively refusing data input like it is. Quite frankly you're lucky that I'm a genius in my field, or we would have learned nothing."

I titled my head. "Actively refusing? Just what did you learn?"

The doctor let out a sigh as she leaned forward and looked at me. "You have to understand, you're asking me to give my option on what amounts to an alien software black box wrapped inside tech so advances that it makes me feel like Charles Babbage looking at a modern computer. At this point I can't be certain about anything, not without studying your body much, much more."

"I get that, but any insight you can give…"

She looked off to the side before she nodded. "All right. As for why you can't absorb software, I'm pretty sure it's because your nanites don't understand how to deal with your consciousness."

"What? What do you mean by that?"

"My theory is that something went wrong when the nanites consumed you, that in spite of how advanced they are, they were never intended to digitize a mind. When the consciousness emulation started, it took over whatever the thing's OS was, but some function in the natites programming realized that something was wrong and locked its data absorption functions down to prevent the problem from getting worse. To put it in layman's terms, the nanites suffered a crash when they ate you, so now you've rebooted in safe mode."

I was silent for a moment as I let this sink in, but then I realized something was off. "But, if I was in 'safe' mode, wouldn't my mind not be able to take in or do anything new? Aside from me learning and remembering things as normal, I've also learned how to control new and extra limbs. Hell, I'm adapted to having my visual spectrum widened in both directions almost constantly now. Shouldn't that be impossible?"

"Not if it was running a very good emulation of a human brain." She remarked. "The brain can be extremely flexible and adaptive under the right conditions. People can learn to use artificial limbs with functions they never biologically had, learn things at an astounding pace if pressured, and not to mention whatever mental functions develop to help control metahuman abilities."

"So, why can't I just 'adapt' a way to directly interface with software and data?"

"Probably because in that case the brain has no starting point. Limbs and senses it can understand, it can extrapolate off of. Pure data though, there's no analog. There's a reason why direct neural interfaces are still so complicated and awkward."

"Huh. So, if I can somehow convince my 'OS' that everything is normal-"

"That might not be a good idea." She cut me off. "If I'm right then your current state is what's keeping you in control of your nanites. Resetting it might cede that control back. And even if you only activate your ability to absorb data, it's possible you'll accidently overwrite parts of your mind." She paused before she let out a shrug. "Or not. Like I said, this is all guess work."

"Ah." I said, my mouth twisting a bit. "So, what do you recommend I do?"

"Until I've studied this enough to understand what I'm looking at, I would advise that you keep doing what you're doing. If what you're saying is true, your emulation has clearly grown and adapted in response to all of the technology and experiences you've exposed yourself to, so more will likely help." She glanced at the laptop. "Like I said, I can't give you any of my work, but if you do have an in with Kord maybe you could have him build you a purely hardware based 'internet protocol', just to get you started."

I stood up straighter at that, surprised I hadn't thought of the idea myself. Then again, while it was possible to make a device that replaced code with arrangements of transistors and logic gates, doing so was an incredibly inflexible and inefficient endeavor. But for me, it might just be the start I needed to adapt my emulation to parsing raw information. "Thank you. And… what about my 'touch' problems?"

She face fell. "I'm not a cyberneticist, let alone one who understand interactions with digitized human consciousness. It could be that your body is calibrated for your greater durability and requires much more powerful sensations to actually feel things. There may be advanced prosthetics that will fix your issue if you can absorb them, but I don't know of any."

I let out a sigh, but I gave her a smile. "Well, in any case, thank you. You've already helped me a great deal. Though I do hope this means you'll be helping me engineer some solutions in the future?"

"Oh absolutely!" She said, a manic smile spreading across her face as she looked me up and down in a way that felt mildly uncomfortable. "A chance to study hyper advanced alien nanotechnology? This could change the entire course of mankind's technological development! And I'll be at the front of it! With a proper lab and some time I could-" she cut herself off abruptly, and the smile faded from her face. "Wait, I'll need a Level Two clearance lab to study you. Which means I'll have to use…" she growled and griped her head. "God damn it, Kord! You knew didn't you?! Argh!"

I tried to keep a straight face as the woman in front of me railed at being forced to work in her nemesis's facilities (really need to find out the story there some day), though it was difficult. After all, the meeting had turned out better than I had hoped, and I was looking forward to what the doctor would find out in the future.

Two days later I learned that Serling Roquette had gone missing.

=====A=====


	13. 4-1

=====A=====

I watched the flags flap in the breeze as my gaze drifted down the street, watching all the people go in and out of the large building, like their world was a sane one where their efforts meant something. Ok, that was cynical of me, they definitely helped hold the world together, but what did it matter when everything went to hell? What's a normal person to do in a world when someone with more power than sense can throw on a garish costume and raze city blocks, and your best hope is other people in garish costumes stopping them? _Does this world really belong to normal people, and what does that mean for me now that I'm not one of them anymore-_

"You are always staring off into space." Kori said.

I blinked as I snapped out of my thoughts and looked over at her. "Huh?"

She made a face. "Just like that. You stare at nothing as if you are thinking of something important. You do it so often I have become concerned."

I waved her off. "Oh, I've always done that. And I guarantee you that it's almost never anything important."

"Well.. what were you thinking of just now?"

I let out a breath as I looked down. "Mostly how different things look from up here." I said, my feet dangling over the ledge I sat on. The two of us were about ten stories up sitting on the ledge of a building in midtown Manhattan, overlooking the United Nations headquarters a short distance away from us. The city below us still busy as it was early afternoon, though that was not to say the morning hadn't been eventful either.

The two of us were meeting Wonder Woman today to do our first official superhero patrol, though she had some work to finish up at the UN first. Since Kori had been so eager to finally get out and do something, I decide that I could show her around the city a bit before it was time to get to work. I wasn't quite as concerned about our mere presence making a scene this time as, well, Kori was far pretty and more personable than I was, so people probably wouldn't freak out immediately if I stuck around her.

Also, it was New York City. I saw weirder looking things than my current self back when I was in _my_ universe.

Anyway, my tour of the city was probably a bit more meandering and scattered than I had intended it to be, transitioning from tourist locations, to old stomping grounds, to various ethnic districts, to somehow getting caught up in what I think was a street performance, to finally a pizza joint. Bit of a mess I suppose, but it did wind up giving Kori a decent cross section of current human culture, and she certainly seemed to enjoy it.

The woman made a small noise as she looked down with me. "I sometimes forget how different it must be for a species that cannot innately fly." She paused. "If you are uncomfortable…"

That wasn't quite what I had been talking about, but I let it slide. "Oh no, I'm not afraid heights. It's just a little different being on the _outside_ of a building is all." I remarked as I watched the cars and pedestrians below me. "Beside which it's keeping my mind off… other things."

Her brow knitted in concern. "I am sure that the League will find the doctor soon. You do not need to worry."

I know she was trying to make me feel better, but I probably would have been twitching nervously if my body still had nerves. It had been several days since Doctor Roquette had disappeared, and no one had told me anything about the investigation thus far, if there even was anything to say. Batman just said 'We're looking into it.' The paranoid part of me wondered if her meeting me was the reason she was missing, but there should be a very limited number of people who know I even exist at this point. I let out a sigh as I tried to relax. "I know. Even if I did decide to do something myself I'd have no idea where to start." I paused and looked off to the side. "I guess I could try to rope Robin in on this…"

"No stepping on the League's feet." Kori said firmly. "The League trusted us to give us our place in the world, we should trust them to do as they say, at least for now. As well, I do not feel that Robin should be given a chance to go off on his own quite so soon."

My mouth twisted a little at that, but I conceded the point. "As you say, commander." I remarked.

After Batman's debrief, the team had their own meeting to discuss what happened during the mission and to make a formal decision on who would be leader. Turns out that Robin had done his usual disappearing act when the fighting broke out. Which certainly was useful for finding and acquiring the information we were looking for (turned out Kobra had fused a super-serum called Blockbuster with Venom, making a whole new form of nasty they were going to sell to someone), but less useful when it came to coordinating the counter offensive. That didn't win the Boy Wonder any affection from the rest of the team, whereas Kori and Kaldur's direction was much more appreciated. After a brief discussion between the two, it was decided that Kori would be the team leader, and Kaldur would act as second in command. Robin wasn't terribly thrilled about this, but he accepted it.

Kori now waved me off. "Please, no need to refer to me as such, especially today."

I shrugged. "As you say, woman-whose-orders-I-follow."

She gave me a suffering look before her expression softened. "I know that you are not exactly a full member of the team yet… but you are not upset that you were not part of the decision, are you?"

I was a little taken aback by this. "What? Of course not, you'll make a great leader. Not only do you have training for that sort of thing, but I'll bet you have the charisma for it too. Which will be great for getting the team to work together, and keeping problems from popping up between us. Like when I inevitably put my foot in my mouth and Superboy decides to use my head as a stress ball."

She frowned at that. "If such a thing happened, you could talk it out."

"Nope. We're men."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

I gestured vaguely. "It's a cultural thing. It's frowned upon for men to express too much emotion, so many learn to suppress it or adopt a sort of mask, ranging from overcompensating machismo to snarky self-deprecation."

Kori gave me a very worried expression. "That sounds horrible… especially considering your own proclaimed deprecation of the self."

"Yeah, but I'm self-aware about it, so it all balances out."

She continued frowning at me for a long moment before she shook her head. "You can be so strange sometimes… but given all that you have done since we met, I think your attempts to sell yourself short are falling flat." As Kori leaned back against the building, she gave me a brilliant smile and…

 _Damn it, that's just unfair_ , I thought. This is even worse than when M'gann learned she could get me to do anything she wanted by giving me sad puppy dog eyes. Now I was completely lacking witty comments to respond with. "Ah…" I said for a moment before I decided to change the subject, reaching to my side to grab the item I had brought up with us. "We- you should probably eat this before it gets cold."

Kori's expression turned to one of hunger as she took the large pizza box from my hands. "Ah yes, I have heard tell that pizza from this city in the best in the world." She opened the box to reveal an 'Everything' pizza, the toppings so thick and densely packed they probably outweighed the rest of foodstuff. Personally I was more of a single topping kind of fellow, but seeing as how the pizza was for my Tamaranian friend, I let her go nuts with it. And that's exactly what she did as she lifted the first piece to her mouth.

I heard that some men have a thing for women eating food elegantly. I'm not one of them, and if I was I'm pretty sure I would be throwing my hands up in dismay at the sight of the Tamaranian eating. Over the past few weeks I had learned that Koriand'r didn't bother with such paltry things as 'table manners' or 'restraint' when it came to food. She tore through that pizza like a barbarian horde raiding a village, both swift and brutal in her execution. The fields of chicken were ravaged, and the forests of broccoli were razed. There were probably something unspeakable things happening to the anchovies too.

In the end she left ruin and devastation in her wake, mostly in the form of crust crumbs, spilt toppings, and the blood (tomato sauce) of her enemies on her lips. To be honest I actually giggled a little at the sight of her with a messy face and puffed out cheeks, something she picked up on and tilted her head at. I just handed her a set of napkins and shook my head.

As she cleaned herself up, I noticed that a small group of pigeons had been drawn to the remains of the feast, settling on the ledge on either side of us. I didn't care to be swarmed by the things, so I quickly reached over to the box and unraveled my hand, consuming the box and its contents. This scared the birds off and they took flight.

All except for one, sitting next to Kori opposite from me, and staring at her chest region for some reason. I narrowed my eyes at the bird and made the universal 'I'm watching you' gesture. It took the hint and flew off.

We didn't have to wait too long after that. "Ah, there you are." A voice interrupted. The two of us looked back forward to see Wonder Woman flying up to us, fully kitted out in her usual costume. The woman looks much the same as when I saw her last, dressed in her cuirass and silver circlet and bracers. She hovered to a stop in front of us and for a moment I was stuck with a sort of awe at her presence that I hadn't felt when I first met her. Maybe it was just because I had been overwhelmed by the circumstances at the time, but now as the statuesque woman floated before me I was suddenly aware that I was in the presence of a living legend.

Unaware of my internal epiphany, Wonder Woman continued. "I was concerned when I didn't see you on ground level before I realized you might pick a more scenic viewpoint. I hope I you weren't waiting long."

"It was fine. Machina showed me around the city. I've never seen so many different cultures in a single city!" Kori said enthusiastically.

I on the other hand shook my head before arching an eyebrow. "Do… you actually attend UN meetings geared up like that?"

Wonder Woman gave a short laugh. "No, I have a change of clothes in my office. It would send the wrong message if I attended peace conferences while armored for combat." She gave me a wiry grin. "Even if I do sometimes find myself hoping a Minotaur will attack to liven things up a bit."

Kori got to her feet. "So, what do we do now?"

"Nothing major, hopefully." Wonder Woman said. "Normally New York is Lantern Stewart's territory, but he just switched off with our other Green Lantern for patrolling off-world, so we're coving for him. Depending on if we manage to catch and stop a large enough crime, you may end up getting cornered by reporters." She glanced at me and a small frown creased her face. "I'm afraid I'm not up to date on your capabilities. Can you fly?"

I got up onto my haunches. "Unfortunately no. Not yet anyway. However, you don't have to worry about me keeping up. I have a… different way for getting around a city."

It was Wonder Woman's turn to arch an eyebrow. "Really? And that is…?"

I shifted my position so that I was facing down the street away from the floating superheroine, my 'muscles' tensing and un-tensing as I prepared myself. My current form was something of a halfway point between what had become my casual human form and my armored human form. The plates that covered me had larger gaps of more flexible material between them, and my build was bit more narrow and athletic. Before I lost my nerve, I jumped.

I arced about 20 feet though the air before I started to drop, and as I did I pointed my arm at the top of the building I was falling past. A nanite cable shot out from a launcher on the inside of my wrist, hitting its target and holding fast. The cable pulled tight and I swung, releasing and retracting the cable at the edge of my swing before I shot out another one with my other arm to keep my momentum going.

Alright, I may not have been quite as graceful about it as the original webslinger, but I was way to giddy to be webslinging around New York to care.

After traveling a few blocks I attached a line to the lip of a roof and pulled, rapidly reeling myself upwards with enough speed that I shot up past the ledge by about a dozen feet. Unfortunately my inexperience prevented me from landing quite as gracefully as I wanted, but I managed to turn it into a semi-competent roll. As I got to my feet I saw the two superheroines flying towards me. "That is an… interesting take on how Batman patrols out of vehicle." Wonder Woman said as she landed next to me.

"I got a few pointers from Robin." I commented. I briefly considered telling her about Spiderman before I decided against it. "So, I'm ready when you are. Do you have your own com?"

She tapped the side of her ear, and after a moment I got a ping on my internal radio, signifying we had been linked on the same network. I was far from an expert, but since our last mission I had been studying our com system and how to use them. For better or worse they were still just standard radios rather than something more exotic, as the League didn't want to rely on tech that they all didn't fully understand and couldn't maintain. Think there is an argument to be made otherwise, but I felt I needed more technical knowledge before I attempted to convince anyone.

Starfire drifted a little higher in the air as our coms linked up. "And now, let us begin. For justice!"

* * *

For the next hour or so we traveled around Manhattan, keeping an eye below us as we flew and swung through the city. To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. I mean, comic books make it seem like there is a supervillain attack every other day in a major city, but I was sure that the actual rate of crime couldn't be that much worse than in real life. And to be sure, even with all the ground we covered, we only spotted a single mugging in that time. And that guy gave up the moment he spotted Wonder Woman flying down to say hello.

I was starting to think that the day would be fairly anti-climactic before a new sound reached my ears, a high ringing sound that I could just make out above the sounds of the city. I came to a stop on the side of a building before I shouted out "Hey, do you hear that? It sounds like an alarm."

The two women stopped and turned towards me. "I do not hear anything unusual." Starfire said. "But then, your hearing has been proven to be much better than mine."

"Where is it coming from?" Wonder Woman asked.

I couldn't pinpoint the exact location or distance, but I could tell what direction it was. "This way, follow me!" I leapt from the building and shot down the street, swinging along as fast as I dared travel. I ended up moving about three blocks south before swinging west, and it was another block or so before I spotted the source. And when I did I almost laughed.

It was an honest-to-god bank robbery. Or at least that was what I assumed I found as the ringing noise was coming from a bank, and parked out front the was an armored car with a man in a ski mask in the driver's seat. I doubted that was the bank's official uniform, and the automatic rifle in the passenger's seat didn't help matters. I wasn't sure if he had hijacked the car, or if he brought it himself, but given how he wasn't immediately driving away, I assumed he wasn't alone; the rest of his crew was probably inside.

The bank itself was modern, the building only five stories high and made of brick and plaster. The front was plain with large glass windows showing me a bit of the lobby, though I couldn't see much more from my angle above. "Looks like a robbery." I said as I landed on the top of the building, looking down at the getaway car. "So, how do you do-"

That was as far as I got before I saw Wonder Woman dive, her form blurring as she simply flew straight into the bank. Starfire was not far behind her and the two disappeared from sight.

"…this." I finished lamely, hearing panicked shouts coming from inside the building. I would have thought we would need to approach a little more carefully, but Wonder Woman probably knew what she's doing. So, then what was I doing? A quick glance down showed the getaway driver franticly starting the car.

I took a moment to judge the distance. _Ah what the hell_ , I thought to myself as I dropped off the roof.

About 2 seconds later I slammed into the hood of the armored car, feeling a small shock of pain in my legs before it quickly faded. I looked up and on the other side of the windshield the driver was cursing up a storm as he struggled awkwardly to pull his rifle up towards me. I ignored him for the moment and shaped my right leg into a spike before driving it through the hood into the engine. The car stuttered briefly before assimilation spikes rapidly spread and consumed the engine. _Fear me criminals, for I now have all the powers of a combustion engine,_ I thought to myself as my leg resumed its normal shape. I looked back up in time to see the man finally level his assault rifle at me and open fire at me through the windshield.

Those bullets must have had a lot of kick, because they managed to piece through the glass and into me. I didn't try to dodge though, instead choosing to move in closer. It hurt a little, especially since my current armor was thinner and bent with the impacts (helped reduce the chance of a ricochet), but I only had to put up with it for a little bit until I reached the gun. My fist went through the bullet-ridden glass and gripped the rifle, and a quick twist bent the barrel upwards. The two of us were still for a moment before I said "So, do you want to just come along quietly, or-"

The man suddenly tried to bolt out of his seat and out the door, but my hand shot forward and grabbed his arm. My grip tightened the same instant he twisted his arm at an odd angle to try to break free, and he let out a scream of pain.

- _felt something crack underneath my hands_ -

My hand suddenly loosened and there was a tearing noise as the sleeve of his shirt ripped, the thug all but hurling himself out of the car and attempting to run down the street. I hesitated for a moment before I let out an exasperated sigh at myself and hopped off the car.

The reason my form was slimmer than usual was not just because it gave me the proper flexibility to websling (though that was part of it), but also to limit my physical strength. Given the way my body worked, how strong I was at any given moment was basically determined by how much of my mass it was dedicating to that purpose, both for structure and energy. If I dedicated one hundred percent to pure physical strength I was actually the third strongest on the team behind Superboy and Starfire.

But I didn't even want to use that amount of strength. And now a criminal was getting away because- whatever. _I really wish I had some actual training_ , I thought to myself as my arm rippled and reconfigured, electricity arcing up and down it before I pointed two fingers at the man running away.

Knocking someone out with electricity (and not permanently injuring them) requires precision, both in where you aim and how much power you deliver to the body. And both of those things are more difficult when you're at range. As such I dropped the power of my bolts to be on the safe side, delivering little more energy than a Taser to the thug as it hit him. The man spasmmed and tumbled to the ground, still conscious but struggling to get his limbs under control. I cleared the distance between us just as he got to his feet, and a quick hand to his chest and a concentrated shock put him back down.

I swiftly dragged his body back to the car and looked through the large front windows of the bank trying to see what was going on. There was some muffled shouting before the sound of an automatic weapon being fired, bullets tracing across the bank lobby at an unseen target. Before I could move though, Wonder Woman came into view, swiftly advancing across the lobby towards the source of fire, her arms a blur as she expertly deflected every bullet with her bracers. Soon enough the clip went dry and the superheroine shot forward in a burst of speed, disappearing from sight. There was a loud crunch shortly after that.

Starfire then came into view, backing away from a man similarly dressed to the one I had taken down who was swinging a crowbar at her. From behind her, another man jumped over the tiller counters and tried to rush her from her blindspot, but the moment he was within reach she spun and grabbed him by the collar. Starfire continued her spin and slammed the thug into the man assailing her. She then did it again. And again.

 _…_ _My god it's spectacular watching them work_. I thought to myself. It was so engrossing I almost missed someone sneaking around the back of the armored car with my blindsight, creeping up to me with what I guessed was a baseball bat in his hands. I had learned from my encounter with Sportsmaster though, and as he swung the bat at my head my hand lashed out to grab it.

Unfortunately, I was apparently not yet cool enough to pull off the no-look block, as I missed my target by centimeters and the bat collided with my head. As my feet had been braced it only tilted my head a little on impact, but I still yelled "Damn it!" More out of embarrassment than pain, mind you. "This is why I never try to be cool in public. Well, at least no one saw that…"

"Uh…" I turned my head to look at the man who tried to brain me, currently looking very unsure of himself.

There was a beat before my eyes narrowed. "You've seen too much." I said before I reached out and shocked him into unconsciousness.

With that out of the way I returned my attention back to the matter at hand, only to find there was nothing left. Only a little over a minute had passed since we arrived on the scene, and it was already over. I was a little surprised by the swiftness of it, but then again these particular thugs didn't look like they were part of any supervillain's gang (or Intergang for that matter). Plus having a superheroine with about 70 years of heroing under her belt taking point probably helped. Wonder Woman and Starfire came walking out of the bank, each dragging their own pair of goons behind them. "Everything good in there?" I asked as they tossed the men at the other two I had captured.

"The theft has been thwarted." Starfire said. "The civilians and guards had been tied up, but were unharmed."

"Yes, good work." Wonder Woman said before glancing at the now inoperable armored car. "Both of you."

I then noticed the sound of sirens getting closer. "Sounds like the police are on their way."

The older heroine hummed at that. "Since we have nothing pressing at the moment, we should wait and give a statement. It is not strictly necessary for us to do so, but it is a good idea to be helpful to the local authorities whenever possible."

"Oh, will this be our official introduction then?" Starfire asked.

I spied something as I looked off to the side. "Either way, it looks like we're getting our unofficial introduction right now." I said as I nodded towards the sidewalk. Already a small cluster of people had formed to gawk at the superheroes, phones out and recording. _I guess people still get excited by superheroes around here_ , I thought.

Of course, Starfire immediately beamed as she turned towards them. "Hello citizens!" she called out cheerfully. "I am Starfire and this is Machina! We have helped Wonder Woman secure your monetary assets from these villains!" They group looked at each other in polite confusion at that before she turned back to Wonder Woman. "Should I greet them in person while we wait for the authorities?"

Wonder Woman gave the younger superheroine a bemused look as she said "If you want, just remember the cover we gave you."

Starfire looked at me but I held up a hand before she could say anything. "You can go on ahead without me. I'm… I don't really have anything to say…"

Starfire gave me a look, but after a moment she turned and walked towards the group of bystanders. Wonder Woman gave me a look of her own. "You are not comfortable with crowds?"

"No, I'm just… not good at carrying a conversation with random people. 'Hey, I just foiled a bank robbery, so, uh, how about this weather?'"

The woman considered me for a moment before she changed the subject. "After you had taken care of the ones outside, why did you choose to remain out here?"

"You and Starfire seemed to have a handle on the situation inside the bank, and I wanted to be sure that no one else tried to slip away." I hesitated. "Was… that the wrong call?"

"No, I just find it interesting that you chose to hang back while Starfire and I handled things directly."

I blinked in confusion at that. "Why is that? I'm still vastly inexperienced compared to the two of you. If I tried to charge in I'd be just as likely to get in your way as help."

Wonder Woman did not look convinced. "And yet that is at odds with your behavior on your last mission."

I shifted a little. "Oh, that. Well, that was because there was no one else who was in position to follow those cultists."

"So you prefer to stay in your support role unless you are forced out of it."

"I… guess. I mean, I still feel like I barely know what I'm doing…" I trailed off as I narrowed my eyes at her. "Wait, are you evaluating me?"

"I wouldn't put it like that…" She said. "But I am concerned. Your first mission ended up being far more dangerous and stressful than we intended, especially to you. I want to make sure that you weren't unduly marked by the experience."

An image of cooling bodies on the jungle floor flashed through my mind before I shook my head. "I'm fine. I'm still just getting my footing."

"Well, in my opinion, I think you're performing quite well." Wonder Woman said with an encouraging smile.

I rubbed the back of my head nervously. "Ah, if you say so." I replied. I suppose I had done alright, if not much. It just didn't feel… good enough, I guess. She was started to give me that concerned look again, so I decide to try to put what I was feeling into words. "I-"

That was as far as I got before a voice suddenly cut through on our coms. "This is Green Arrow to any Justice League members listening. Me and Black Canery have just been blindsided by an unknown villain. Hits pretty hard, could use some muscle."

Wonder Woman's hand went to her ear. "This is Wonder Woman, where are you?"

"We're in the Bronx, New York City, around the corner of Third and 145th."

My eyebrows rose at that. _What are those two doing out of Star City?_ I wondered, but Wonder Woman simply said "I'm in Manhattan with Starfire and Machina. We'll be there in two minutes." She looked back at me. "The police will have to wait, this takes priority."

Starfire, having heard the com, moved back over to us. "It sounds that we should make all due haste." She said, and extended her arm towards me. I caught on quickly and nodded, the two of us clasping forearms. My webslinging wasn't as fast her flying speed, so she would have to carry me.

Without another word, the three of us lifted into the air and shot northward.

* * *

True to Wonder Woman's word, I spotted the plume of smoke inside of two minutes of travel, and a few seconds later we arrived at the site of a small disaster. All along the street, cars were wrecked and buildings were damaged. Nothing too major, more like a really bad storm rather than a warzone, but it was still disconcerting, especially since I knew the cause still had to be around. I couldn't see where though. I reached up and tapped Starfire's arm, and she nodded before flying low and letting me go.

I dropped to the ground and looked around, trying to pin point where the fighting was taking place. It didn't take long as a second later Green Arrow was defenestrated out of a store front about a block away. He bounced off the roof of a car before he rolled to his feet, his bow snapping up to fire a shot at an opponent I couldn't see. As I moved to close the distance a screech pierced the air, echoing from inside the store and ripping apart the rest of the front of the building. I had never heard it before, but it was easy to identify the Canary Cry.

Which is why I was so surprised when Black Canary came flying out along with it.

"Oh no…" I said, sliding to a stop when I saw the one responsible walking out of the ruined building. It was clearly an android, shaped like a man but with visible seams where the plates on his body connected. His ears were pointed, and while its top was flesh colored the bottom was a dull green. And while I was more familiar with a different version of the android, I knew perfectly well who this was.

Amazo had come to town.

=====A=====


	14. 4-2

=====A=====

Alright, step one: don't panic. This is the first time since you got here that your comic knowledge is directly useful. Yes, Amazo's potentially one of the most powerful villains in said comics, but the key word there is _potentially_. He is only as powerful as the superheroes he copies, so without any he would be… well, probably still a respectably strong android given the way he's hurling that countertop like a softball, but still a lot more manageable.

But to keep it that way, the first thing I needed to do was tell everyone about it. I saw Starfire start to shoot forward as I subvocalized over the coms. "Wonder Woman, Starfire, do not engage I repeat _do not engage_! Break line of sight immediately!"

"Machina, why-"

"The android's name is Amazo, it is capable of copying superpowers on sight! If you fight it, the android will only become stronger! Fall back now!"

Starfire skidded to a stop in midair about 50 feet away from the fight. Amazo started to turn its head toward the Tamaranian, but she quickly flew to the side, disappearing from sight down a side alley. The android wasn't given a lot of time to consider the new arrival before its hand shot up and grabbed an arrow out of the air that had been streaking towards it. Amazo then turned its attention back to the two it had already been fighting and moved towards them.

I was about to pull back myself when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye, a young man in a hoodie standing on the other side of the street from the fight. He was crouched behind a mail box and holding up his phone to record the superpowered brawl. _Idiot_ , I thought to myself as I quickly considered what to do, but there wasn't much choice. I broke cover and sprinted towards the youth, planning on simply grabbing him and pulling him clear of the fighting. So long as I didn't engage the android directly, there was a decent chance it wouldn't pay attention to me so long as I was fast. Besides, first thing above all else: save the civilians.

I soon got close enough that I began to shout, but my words were drowned out by the sudden Canary Cry that Amazo unleased. The android swept the wave of sound as it tried to track Green Arrow and Black Canary… and this sweep caused it to pass by myself and the civilian. There was a parked car between me and the android when the wave hit, so I only felt every particle of my body vibrate for a second before the vehicle lifted off the ground and slammed into me, sending me sprawling.

The wave then hit the young man, launching him off his feet and sending him and the mailbox towards the building behind him. There was a loud crunch as the mail box crushed him against the brickwork, and when he collapsed to the ground his head was stained with blood and bent at an unnatural angle. From my angle I could see his face, and while his eyes were open they...

Wait… that's not… but I was supposed to…

"Machina, where are you? Machina respond."

I blinked, tearing my eyes away from the- I answered Wonder Woman on the com. "I'm near the fight, I saw a civilian and went to get him out of the area but… the civilian's down, ma'am."

There was a pause before she answered. "Come to the roof of the store at the end of the street, we need to regroup."

I muttered an affirmative and half shoved, half slid out from the car on top of me as my body bulked up to combat form. I slipped out of line of sight of the conflict as best I could and hurried down the street. The area was a mixture of commercial and residential, with most building being between 2 to 5 floors tall, and soon I spotted the convenience store Wonder Woman was talking about. It was about 100 feet away and not easy to spot from where Green Arrow and Black Canary were doing battle, but it was still close enough that we could respond if we had to.

As I scaled the wall and pulled myself over the lip of the roof, I saw Wonder Woman and Starfire a short distance away looking in the direction of the fight. Wonder Woman turned towards me. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, just knocked around a bit." I said as I waved her off. "I'll, I'll be fine."

She gave me an unreadable look at that, but she continued. "This android, Amazo you called it, I assume you know about it due to your meta-knowledge?" I nodded and her expression became focused. "Tell me everything."

I hesitated for a second before I started to talk. "In every iteration I am aware of, Amazo was created by one Professor Ivo, usually to destroy the Justice League. Its primary ability has always been to copy the abilities of anyone it sees." I glanced back in the fight's direction just as I heard Black Canary let loose her own Cry to nullify Amazo's yell. "But exactly how it works changes between each one. The one I'm most familiar with was made entirely out of nanites, and was basically a much more powerful version of myself. Pretty sure we're not fighting that one."

She took a moment to process that before she asked "How do we beat it?"

"I… I'm not sure. I think the way it was traditionally brought down was that it copied a person's weaknesses as well as their strengths, and that was exploited to destroy it. At the moment though since it's only copied Black Canary I don't think it _has_ any weaknesses. But since it probably doesn't have any super-durability either… hit it with missiles?" I suggested.

" _Big missiles!_ " A new voice suddenly popped up on the coms, male and breathing hard. I was worried we had been hacked for a moment before it became clear who it was. " _I hit the damn thing with every explosive arrow I had, and it barely flinched. That said, I don't have the really big stuff on me right now._ "

Wonder Woman frowned. "The League doesn't exactly keep that sort of arsenal, but I see your point." Her hand went to her ear. "Wonder Woman to Batman, the situation in New York is worse than we thought. Machina has identified the assailant as the android Amazo, a machine capable of replicating super-powers. Do you have anything that could be of assistance?"

There were a few seconds before Batman responded. " _Possibly. Has its composition been identified?_ "

I broke in, knowing what the man was trying to get at. "It's not nanite Amazo, sir. Or at least it appears to be a purely mechanical android from the outside. So far it has only copied Black Canary, so I don't think it's any more durable than, say, Red Tornado. Hopefully."

There was a pause before Batman spoke. " _Green Arrow, your assessment._ "

" _Not exactly in a position to give a dissertation, Bats."_ The man snipped back, but after a few seconds he continued. _"_ _Think it's a little stronger and tougher than Red Tornado, but not by much. Didn't start singing until about five, ten minutes after Canary started, but it's been getting better at fighting us the whole time. I would have thought he was holding on to his parrot act as a trump, but if Machina says otherwi- shit!_ "

There was an explosion down the street followed by smoke rising up into the air. _There sure are a lot of explosions for a relatively low powered fight_ , I thought to myself. _Are the cars fueled with explodium too?_ A second later I saw Green Arrow pull himself and Black Canary to a rooftop via grappling hook, trying to get away from whatever was happening down on street level. Their respite didn't last long though, as I soon saw Amazo scale the side of the building in a rather inhuman motion to continue fighting the two heroes.

The rest of us on the convenience store roof ducked down low to keep from being seen, but I was still focused in on the android itself. There was something… unsettling in the way it moved, the way it punched and blocked. Every motion was mechanical, so efficient to be as minimal as possible. Its humanoid frame and copied fighting style forced it to move at least somewhat like a person, but it didn't make any of the other small and fluid motions that a human would. It was like staring into the uncanny valley of biomechanics. There was also something strange about the gaps in its chassis, the dark spaces between the plates seemed… off for some reason.

Not long after, the two heroes made a retreat and jumped off the building and back out of sight, the android following them. The rest of us stood back up and looked at each other expectantly. Starfire was the first to voice our thoughts. "Well, what is our plan?"

Batman spoke up. " _I do have some heavy ordinance, but it will take some time to prepare and get it to New York. ETA, 20 minutes._ "

Green Arrow's voice broke through over the coms " _Hate to rush you, but I don't know how much longer we can keep this up. My quiver's running dry and Canary has near blown out her voice trying to counter the robot. We need someone to tag in, or a solution, fast._ "

My mouth pressed in a thin line. "Do we have any non-powered superheroes available?"

Wonder Woman mirrored my expression. "Batman and Green Arrow are it. Technically Green Lantern as well, but if the android is capable of copying technology…"

She had left it as an open question, and with a sigh I answered "We shouldn't risk it."

There was a moment of silence before Batman said " _Machina, do you think that you could engage and neutralize Amazo fast enough that he would not have time to copy your abilities?_ "

I paused as I quickly went through everything I had observed in my mind, then answered "I can't say for certain until I try. Given how the core of my abilities is shapeshifting and how very… mechanical this version is, it's possible he can't mimic me at all. But if he could, my going in could make him massively more powerful. I don't see much of a middle ground here."

" _Regardless, we are low on time and options. If Amazo truly is built to destroy the Justice League, in all likely hood it will turn its attention to the local populous if we do not engage it, in order to draw us out. Machina, do you think you can do it?_ "

A brief flash of a terrified face moments before it impacted a wall flashed in my mind. "…If I can touch him, yes I can do it. But I'll need some cover, something to keep his attention and eyes off of me."

Wonder Woman nodded. "Green Arrow, Black Canary, keep its attention for a little while longer. You'll be running interference. Any other League members listening, try to identify and find Professor Ivo." She turned to Starfire. "Starfire, you and I will be on crowd control and minimizing civilian interference." The other heroine nodded before Wonder Woman turned her attention back to me. "Here's how this is going to work…"

* * *

A few minutes later, I was pressed flat against the side of a building, the fight between man, woman and machine coming my way. The street opened up into a T-section just before a (thankfully empty) small park, so if Amazo happened to turn the corner there would be nothing stopping it from spotting me. Hopefully the other two will have gotten into position before that happened.

Soon enough, I saw Black Canary come into view in a window reflection around the corner. She slid to a stop and spun, letting out a Cry that sounded a bit weaker and more wobbly than before. This time the sound wave that answered back was strong enough that it overpowered her and knocked her to the ground. A second after the sound cut off and I heard a series of impacts, follow by the sound of escaping gas. If things had gone to plan, that was the sound of several smoke grenade arrows hitting Amazo from behind from where Green Arrow had flanked it.

It wasn't a complicated distraction plan, but simple was just fine for me.

Black Canary picked herself up and ran past me, and I heard her say in a hoarse voice "Now!" I bolted from cover and ran, trusting on my blindsight to not trip on the rubble as I plunged into the growing cloud of smoke. I quickly identified the android, and luckily enough he it had turned away from me to face where the last attack had come from. In a matter of seconds I was on him, my hand reaching out to touch his back. At the last second though, its torso spun all the way around and it grabbed my wrist. _Close enough!_ I thought, and an instant later assimilation spikes deployed from my arm.

Whatever the android's metal chassis was made out of was extremely tough and dense, my nanites having trouble getting through directly. It didn't matter though, as the gaps between the plates in its hand left plenty of room to slip inside and-

I screamed as it suddenly felt like I was touching molten metal, the tips of my limb burning away at the touch of the android's internals. It only lasted for a second though, as Amazo quickly spun and hurled me away from him. The crushing impact into the side of a car was almost a relief as the burning pain cut off, though I still felt a little disoriented after what had just happened. It was such that I almost missed Wonder Woman over the coms. "Machina, what happened?! Did you try to assimilate it?"

"I don't… it failed." I managed to say as I got to my feet, trying to parse what little information I had gleamed from my brief look at Amazo's insides. "It's… got some kind of energy field running through its components to power it, extremely powerful, I don't know what it is. It disintegrated my nanites on contact. I can't assimilate it."

Amazo stared at me for a long moment, and as it did I felt something buzz deep in my chest, emanating from the sensor suite I had replicated from the Psion tricorder. The one which still had about 4 different sensors which I still had only a vague idea what they did. _It's not just visual, it has some kind of active scan_ , I thought. Its hand twitched before it became still. " **Nanite intrusion detected.** " It said as it turned fully towards me. " **Setting priority target.** "

Oh shit-

In three bounding leaps Amazo cleared the distance between us and smashed his fist into my chest, imbedding me into the car I had just slammed into. The android began pummeling me with increasing speed, and even as I pushed through the pain a sense of panic started to fill me. I didn't know what to do. If I used my abilities the thing would just copy them and get stronger. But then it might just do that by looking at me, and either way my getting continuously pommeled wasn't helping anyone.

"Machina!"

Starfire's voice came from some distance behind me, but before she could say anything else I yelled back "Stay back! Don't let him see you, I-I'll keep him busy!" Hopefully I sounded a lot more confident than I actually felt. Ideas and devices raced through my mind, but I couldn't risk actually using them. But since my current level clearly wasn't working, I had to step it up somehow. Which meant…

 _Fuck it. Doing it the old fashioned way._

I stopped trying to block, taking the next blow to my face and grabbing the arm that hit me. I did the same with the other arm that came at me, and after a few seconds struggle I slowly forced its arms apart. Just as it started to shift its feet for better leverage, my discreetly created tail shot out from behind me and speared straight towards the thing's head. The android's reaction speed was fast as it tried to tilt its head to the side, but not fast enough as the bladed tip scraped the edge of its left eye socket. There was a flash of sparks and some exposed circuitry, but otherwise it was fine. Still, the sudden movement caused it to shift off balance, which allowed me to push to my feet just as it tore itself from my grip (with a few bits of metal tearing off with it).

 _Brutally_ , I thought as my hands shaped in to claws. It was a risk showing the thing any of my abilities, but I had no real combat training that I could leverage. And since I honestly couldn't see a way for the mechanical man in front of me to mimic my basic shapeshifting, this was my best chance at beating it. I just had to hope that it couldn't infer my other abilities from just this alone.

I came in low, darting to the side before launching myself at Amazo's legs. It side stepped and kicked at me, but I just rolled with the blow and used the momentum to lash out with my tail again. The appendage nailed the android in the side and knocked it off balance, allowing me to step back in and tackle Amazo to the ground. Again I tried to slash at its eyes to blind it, but Amazo managed to wrap his legs around my midriff. There was a twisting motion that I was sure shouldn't be humanly possible and I suddenly found my face smashing into the asphalt. The android the grabbed the back of my head and started repeatedly slamming it into the ground.

Two could play at that bullshit. Long spikes erupted from my back, and I both felt and heard them scrape along Amazo's chassis, pushing it back as I twisted around and broke its grip on my head. The android rolled back and to its feet as it tried to gain some distance, but I didn't let it. I rushed back in and jabbed with my right. Amazo caught it, so I went low with my left. It caught that one too. Which left the android open for my _other_ right.

The extra arm I had hid behind my back slammed into the side of the android's head with devastating force, shattering the already damaged eye socket. Arm number four came around to give the same treatment to the other side of the head, but again it pulled back. I still hadn't really mastered using multiple sets of arms yet, but at that moment I didn't really care. I just pushed forward and swung with wild abandon, hammering any part of it that looked open.

It seemed to work at first, as Amazo was pushed back as I rained blows at its head and body. But the rate of its retreat began to slow as it started blocking more and more of my strikes. By the time we reached the sidewalk the android stood its ground and parried everything I threw at it. I tried to press harder, but I fell into a trap where my arms ended up crossing one another and getting tangled. Amazo simply shoved me back before it's foot lashed out to the side, striking a lamppost with enough force that the base crumpled and broke, and it grabbed the pole with an extended arm.

I saw the swing coming from a mile away, but my sudden panic combined with my extra limbs resulted in me losing all coordination as I tried to do several things at once. What actually ended up happening was that I sort of jumped up into the air to the side of the android and my limbs failed wildly as I tried to get them under control. I felt my leg impact something solid just before the metal pole slammed into me. I think I smacked into the side of a building before I fell roughly back to the ground in a heap of rubble.

I let out a small growl of frustration as I picked myself up, shifting back to a more normal humanoid form. _No doing that again_ , I thought to myself as I glanced back at Amazo, and froze. It looked like my wild kick had managed to further damage the left side of its head, enough that it's 'skull' was misshapen and exposed. There was something odd about the material though, the way it caught the light made it difficult to tell if it was black, grey or silver from moment to moment.

A second later its head started to shift and change shape, moving back into a more human structure. I took a risk and zoomed in with my sight, giving myself as much tunnel vision as I dared in order to get a closer look at just what the fuck was under the hood of this thing. And as I got a clear view the result was… fascinating. It looked to be some sort of mesh of small metallic plates and threads, with noticeable patterns emerging from different materials and components. Up close it looked like pure chaos, but pull out far enough and if formed an interconnected whole. And it was clear that it was capable of rearranging itself and forming new configurations and arrangements, almost like myself. But so much more complicated and intricate on a macroscale…

I snapped myself out of my fascination and refocused on Amazo just as it finished rebuilding its face, the outer plating still missing but its structure restored. For a moment neither one of us moved, both of us analyzing and judging the other, wondering what the next move was.

Then it did something I did not expect: it spoke. " **Observational limit reached.** " The android intoned. " **Subject 'Machina' exceeds complete possible replication with current data and analysis.** "

I blinked in surprise at that before a grin split my face. "Ha! Suck it, tin can!" I yelled. Looked like the machine had no clue how to replicate my nanite body after all.

" **Begin Stage 2 analysis: Physical Sample.** "

Wait, what-

Amazo exploded into motion as it hurled the lamppost like a spear at me, the improvised weapon cutting through the air with blinding speed. I didn't quite manage to dodge completely, and the pole clipped my side, causing me to spin violently. I managed to get control of myself just in time for Amazo to clear the distance and grab onto my skull.

" **Access: Black Canary.** " Amazo said as it gripped both sides of my head. It then shoved its face right next to mine, and I saw its jaw descend to reveal the mechanism in its mouth before it screamed at point blank range.

My head exploded. It hurt.

The removal of my head was disorienting to say the least. On top of the greatest pain I had felt since my getting my nanite body, it also blinded and disoriented me. Everything was just darkness and pain. Then, just as it started to subside, a new pain ignited as I felt its fingers start to dig into my neck stump. Amzao was _literally_ trying to take a piece out of me.

I didn't know if the android would find these samples helpful; my nanites went inert the moment they became separated from my main mass (so no starfish scenarios, thankfully). I didn't want to find out though. I pushed through the pain and focused on the anger and fury that had slowly been building, and even as my head started to reform, my arm shifted into something more complicated than I had been shaping before. The first thing I heard as sound came back to me was the angry whir of a motor followed by the shriek of metal against metal. I felt Amazo's grip break and pull back from me, and as the eyeballs in my resorted head formed I saw the damage I had inflicted. Unlike the scratches that I had already given it, there was now a deeper gouge running diagonally across its abdomen.

The massive chainsaw that my arm had become revved. "Groovy." I all but snarled before I went right back in.

This time the android took care to dodge my attacks rather than block them as I tried to hack the damn thing to pieces. In fact, for the moment Amazo seemed to forgo attacking entirely and instead focused on getting away from me. I dogged its steps as close as I could, my saw biting into its chassis several times as we moved down the street. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the occasional person some distance away. I didn't know how far out the other superheroes were keeping civilians clear, but I knew I had to stop the android from getting too far.

As we passed another intersection, my legs' internals changed, compressing and becoming more spring like. Between one step and the next my gait changed, and in the next instant I exploded forward in quick burst. The android had been unprepared for this and I slammed into it just before it got its arms up to defend itself. My chainsaw bit into its chest as I tried to grind my way through, but Amazo decided that it had enough and simply grabbed onto the saw from the side. Its hand was damaged as saw bits tore across it, but with a crushing grip it squeezed tight and pulverized my weapon. I tried to bring my other arm around to strike, but it beat me to it and a powerful right cross sent me flying through the air.

I was already reforming as I landed and skidded to a stop next to yet another lamppost. _Was it always that strong?_ I thought as I pulled myself to my feet, watching as the android slowly walked towards me. _I got sloppy_. I must have increased my strength as I fought out of reflex, and now Amazo was mimicking it. I needed to be smarter about this. I glanced at the lamppost next to me and got an idea. I mimicked what the mechanical man had done earlier and kicked at the base of the pole before gripping the middle. Amzao saw this and immediately brought its arms up to block the incoming swing.

Which is why I instead lashed out with my other arm and fired my underarm grapple at the android. The grapple hit it in the torso, and I immediately pulled, lifting it off its feet and hurling right towards me. At the same time, my other hand burrowed into the lamppost pole, gripped the large cable inside, and yanked it out. The torn end gave off sparks as I pulled it forward and jammed it under Amazo's chin as it reached me.

Lightning arced between the two of us, and I felt pain as it seemed to go through me as much as Amazo. Unfortunately, even though it was on the receiving end of the wire, the android seemed less affected by the treatment than I was. With only a slight twitch in its movements it swatted the cable out of my arms before grabbing me. At that moment the electricity left me too disoriented to fight back, so Amazo spun me around and sent me flying through the air.

Again.

This time I didn't land back in the street but instead went clear through the wall of a building on the third floor, tumbling to a stop in the middle of a living room. I lay there for a moment as I tried to collect my thoughts, starting to feel… off. As the fight dragged on there was something building inside me, a sensation that felt old but familiar. I couldn't-

A whimper got my attention and my head snapped up. Near the door there was an Asian man and woman huddled together, looking at me in fear. Apartment building. I was in an _apartment building_. No, no, I couldn't fight here! "Run-"

That was as far as I got before Amazo jumped through the hole I made and landed on top of me. I didn't have time to think, so I just reached out with my left and planted on his abdomen, unfurling my hand into assimilation spikes. I couldn't eat its internals, but if I could strip away the outer plating that would make it much easier to hurt. Whatever the plating was made out of was dense and strong, but my nanites grinded their way through a few layers.

Then, out of nowhere, a scythe like blade deployed from its wrist and sliced my arm off at the elbow.

I screamed, both in surprise and in pain as the removed part of my arm immediately turned into a pile of metallic dust. _Since when could it do that?! Fuck, did it get it from me?!_ As I recovered from the shock the android pick up a handful of the dust and looked at it, as if it was trying to find a diamond amid pebbles. Then it looked back at me and opened its jaw.

What happened next appeared to run in slow motion for me. My remaining arm lashed out and reached for Amazo's head, trying desperately to close my hand over its mouth. But it started its scream just as I was inches away, and I got to see my arm vibrate, fracture, and disintegrate piece by piece. Then everything speed back up and I was hurdling through the floor as it shattered from the force.

Everything became blurred and incoherent as my body vibrated from the sound, thoughts and sensations becoming difficult to parse. It only lasted for a few seconds, but if felt like a lifetime before everything snapped back into focus, and I found myself lying on the ground floor of building looking up through a series of holes. I tried to get to my feet and reform my arms, but it was more straining… no, more stressful than before. Like I was pulling deeper and deeper from a well. And it didn't help that it increased that sensation, that gnawing, biting, consuming-

Hunger. That's what it was. For the first time in a month, I felt hunger.

I shook my head as if to clear my thoughts, but froze went my gaze landed on the pile of rubble nearby. I couldn't tell what the room I was in was originally meant to be, but that didn't matter at the moment. Because pooling out of that pile was a slowly growing puddle of blood. And it was coming from a pair of bodies…

Hunger was pushed aside in favor of something else, something that burned hotter. But I was planning on satisfying both.

I was not facing in its direction, but my blindsight caught Amazo coming up behind me. As it got within arm's reach of me I spun, screaming in fury as my arm shaped into my electromagnetic piston. The weapon swung upward, catching Amazo from down low and striking with enough force to launch the android up through the holes it just made. I leap after it, hammering it upwards again just as it started to fall, this time smashing the thing clear through the roof. An inhuman sound escaped my throat as I hurried after it, pulling myself through the gap and onto the roof just as the thing was getting to its feet. It tried to jump off to get away, but I was already moving. I jumped after it and met the android in midair, my free hand grabbing and turning the fucking thing to face me just before I screamed and hit it a third time.

The piston fired as I made direct contact with Amazo's abdomen, shattering the already weakened plates into hundreds of pieces. The android rocketed to the ground and crashed into the middle of the street with enough force to crater the asphalt. I landed some distance away, stumbling but turning around in time to see the android pulling itself up. Its movements were jerkier than before, and all of the damage it had been accumulating since the fight began made it look like a complete wreck. The dark, exposed techno-mesh of its abdomen practically writhed as it tried to fix the damage.

I stood where I was, my nanites chittering in hunger for the android before me. "Come on!" I screamed in challenge as my piston re-cocked itself.

But, it didn't move. The damn thing just stood there and stared at me before it said " **Stage 2 complete. Nanite ability extrapolated: technological assimilation. Error: crucial data still required for access.** " Amazo remarked in the same monotone it had been using all fight, seemingly not caring about the damage it had taken. " **Knowledge of unit's capabilities compromised. Initiating Tactical Readjustment.** "

I didn't have long to parse that sentence before the android brought up its fists and slammed them into the ground. There was a massive plume of dust and debris as the already fractured street gave way, and the android disappeared from sight. For a few seconds I remained where I was, waiting for Amazo to pop back up somewhere else and ambush me. When that didn't happen I crept up to the edge of the hole and peered down, seeing that it was deeper than I had thought and reached down to-

I cursed and immediately jumped down the hole, shouting over coms "Amazo has fled into the subway tunnels! Pursuing!" I landed heavily on the tracks and scanned the darkness around me, looking for any sign of the android. For a few terrifying moments I thought I had lost it, but then I spotted a trail of tossed up gravel and broken wood trailing off to my left. It was as good a clue as I was going to get, so I shifted to xenomorph and sprinted down the tunnel.

"Machina, give us your position so we can find you!" Wonder Woman call out on the coms.

"Don't know where I'm going, track my signal!" I radioed back before I refocused on task at hand. I didn't know what the android was doing, but something told me that it wasn't just running away. I could tell with every hit it took and keep coming that the thing didn't have a sense of self-preservation; it would fight until it or its target were destroyed. So, what the hell was it doing?

I ran flat out for a full thirty seconds, turning left and right as I followed the trail before I spotted Amazo up ahead, just entering a subway station. However, so was a train from the opposite direction. And since we were on the express track, the train wasn't slowing down. Amazo just barely managed to clear the gap between the train and the tunnel opening, slipping past into the station. I wasn't so lucky, and found the blaring horn and bright lights of a subway train bearing down on me.

I let out a growl and ran to the side, barely slowing down as I ran up the wall and onto the ceiling of the tunnel just as train reached me. I felt the top of the train scrape against my back a few times, but I still pulled myself forward as fast as I could. After a few painful seconds I was clear of the train and entered the station, and what I saw caused a spike of fear to run through me. Amazo was pulling himself up onto the platform, and there was a small crowd of people backing away slowly from it. _What the hell are people still doing here?!_

Whether they didn't know about the attack or thought they could hide from it underground, it didn't matter. I let out a screeching roar and leap off the ceiling at the android. The sound finally scared the crowd into breaking into a run, but the gates and stairs leading outside couldn't let them all pass at once. Amazo rolled to the side and I smashed into the platform a second too late to catch it. My momentum carried me into a concrete pillar with enough force that the thing cracked and groaned dangerously, but I had no time for that.

I scrambled to put myself between Amazo and the civilians, and the fact that they seemed to be trying to get away from me as much as my enemy helped in this. I came to a stop between the android and the exit gate and started to shift back to humanoid. But then I saw her, a middle age dark skinned woman that had fallen when the crowd had panic and ran. And Amazo had grabbed her by the back of her head.

I froze, still in a sort of half crouch as I watched Amazo pull the woman to her feet by palming the back of her head. As she screamed in terror and clawed at its hand, I shouted "Let her go!" I didn't think for a second it would, but I hopped it would buy me time to think, figure a way out of this.

However, my panic quickly turned into confusion when Amazo suddenly reached into her purse and started rifling around. It then pulled out her smartphone… and tossed it at my feet. I blinked as I looked at it before I looked back up at the android. "What? I don't…"

" **Stage 3 analysis: Informed Observation.** " Amazo said as he roughly brought the woman around in front of him, her struggling doing nothing. It placed the train tracks to its back as it continued. " **Demonstrate assimilation of technology.** "

"…You can't be serious. You brought me down here and took a hostage so you could get me to give you a show?! Go fuck your-"

Amazo free hand went to the woman's neck and started to squeeze, her screams cutting off into desperate choking. Amazo's remaining eye stared soullessly at me as it flatly repeated " **Demonstrate assimilation of technology.** "

I… I didn't know what to do, and the hunger biting at my insides was making it hard to think. There was no way I could move or form a weapon fast enough. I only had a few seconds before it snapped the woman's neck, but I couldn't let it get my assimilation powers. But I couldn't let her die! But I can't… I don't… What the fuck do I do?!

At that moment, I had never felt more powerless. I wasn't strong enough to beat it, or smart enough to think of a way out of this. I was going to fail, and the question was just how. I… think I could kill it in one shot if I just rushed it and went straight for its exposed midsection, but the woman would die. But if it gets my abilities, it would probably kill me and move on to kill more of the League and innocent people. So, I had to do it. The best option, the only option was to sacrifice her.

But… I couldn't watch her die.

I had to, for the sake of the many.

A hero wouldn't do that.

A real hero would have stopped it before it got this far.

Why do I have to do this?

There's nobody else.

I can't

You have to

YOU CAN'T ASK ME TO DO THAT

Before I knew it my hand buried itself in the smartphone, my assimilation spikes tearing it to pieces. Someone was screaming the entire time, but I don't know who it was, the hostage or myself.

The screaming stopped, and it was done. The woman's eyes had rolled up into her head, and she didn't appear to be conscious anymore. Amazo was still for a moment longer before he tossed the woman aside like a rag doll. She smashed into the pillar I had earlier, chunks of concrete breaking off as she collapsed into a heap.

"No!"

" **Analysis complete. Access: Machina.** "

With those words, the android's body shifted, the plates along his separating slightly to reveal the black material underneath. I could see as it started to writhe before it became smoke-like, leaking away from the metal body like a shadow trying to break free of its owner. Amazo made a motion as if to flex, and the dark tendrils moved to its command. That was it. Amazo had copied my powers.

Including-

It wasn't a conscious thought, because before it even registered my body was already changing, my legs compressing and shaping, my skin rippling as I forced it to reconfigure faster than I ever had. Amazo had only that instant of warning before I launched myself at the thing, the platform cratering from the sheer force of it. In spite of my speed, it could have dodged or blocked me. It didn't though; I was doing exactly what it wanted.

I slammed into the android with enough force to send us into the air and flying off the train platform, but the moment I made contact it's black tendrils whipped forward and buried themselves into my body. Pain ripped through my body as I felt my own ability begin used against me, my body being consumed bit by bit. I screamed as my nanites tried to fight back, a war being waged on a microscopic level. It was only about two seconds before we landed.

Right onto the third rail.

Electricity surged through both of us, arcing everywhere as the current of a city block ripped across the metal that made us. Amazo spasmmed, his feeding stopped as his dark tendrils lost cohesion and sparked. " **E-E-Error-or: Unable-Unable Er-Error: Functions-s-s Non-Non-Non-Operable.** " Too late it realized what happened. By copying me he had gotten all of my strengths, but also my weaknesses. Namely my vulnerability to electricity, and it hadn't just changed its entire surface into a Faraday cage and spiked its feet into the ground like I just had. An now all of its function were being disrupted. Including its internal energy field.

My arm speared into its exposed midriff and my assimilation spikes deployed. The pain stared anew as the nanites that made up my spikes were burned and destroyed by the current surging through Amazo, unable to both be protected and do what I needed them to do. But I didn't care. I screamed in fury as much as pain as I simply kept pushing, burning through my remaining mass as quickly as my nanties were being destroyed, because I needed to finish this, because all of those faces kept flashing through my mind, because I needed this thing to die die die **die die die die DIE**!

" **R-Rerou-te Failure-Failure-Failure. Com-Compromise immin-in-inent.** " My spikes spread through the android's body, consuming the torso and pushing upwards. " **Activating-ting fail-safe Omega-** " There was a flash from inside its head before the thing exploded.

It was only a few seconds more before the remaining bits of the android were consumed, and I fell away from the electrified rail. My body shifted and writhed, trying to pull it itself back together as it parsed what I had just consumed. A few seconds longer and it was done. Everything was quiet in the subway as I sat just on the tracks.

Then I got up and moved, slowly at first, but picking up speed as I scrambled back up onto the platform and towards the pile of wreckage with the woman had been buried under. There were voices coming from the stairs leading up to the street, but all of my attention was on the rubble as I dug through it. "Come on, just let me have this…" Debris was hurled to the side as I worked. "Let me make it in time, please just let me make it in time…" I cast aside the last of the debris.

I didn't make it in time.

=====A=====


	15. 4-3

=====A=====

I sat on the curb as the other heroes worked clean up, my head hanging low as my arms rested on my knees. The damage to the city caused by Amazo was not the worst they had ever had to deal with, but the battle had covered a large area, so there was still a lot to take care off. Or, at least I assumed that was the case. No one had really bothered me since I gave my report of what happened and settled down at my current spot. I probably should have helped out but I… I just needed some time. Just needed to work through the bitterness and despair in my gut.

I wasn't exactly alone though. Kori sat next to me, her body leaning against me as one of her hands gripped my own. She had tried to talk to me at first, but I wasn't… She instead then just sat down next to me and waited. I kept meaning to tell her that she could go, but I could never seem to muster the words for it.

I don't know how long I sat there, but eventually I became aware of shadow falling over me. I looked up to see Wonder Woman standing over me, her face one of concern. "You likely saved dozens if not hundreds of lives today." She said.

"…Yeah," I said as I hung my head back down. "And I lost four."

I heard a sigh before Wonder Woman spoke again. "Starfire, I need to speak with Machina alone for a moment."

From the corner of my eye I saw Kori look at me uncertainly. I looked back at her and gave her a small nod, squeezing her hand a little as I did so. She squeezed back before she stood and flew off, likely going to join the clean-up effort.

Wonder Woman then moved to sit on the curb next to me, on the opposite side of where Kori had just sat. She was silent for a moment before she spoke. "One of the first missions I ever did back when I joined the All-Star Squadron was evacuating a town in the French countryside. The Allies had intel that the Axis would be pushing an offensive through the area, and they wouldn't be able to make it in time to get everyone out. So we stepped in."

She sifted slightly. "We were… mostly successful. Most of the civilians were out of harm's way when the Axis showed up. But once the army realized that the Squadron was there, the opted to shell the town with us in it." She hesitated. "There was a little girl, not old enough to realize what was going on, but scared enough that she had hid in a closet. I managed to find her just as the artillery shell hit the house."

The silence stretched between us before I finally asked "…Why are you telling me this?"

She turned to more fully face me. "I'm not going to tell you that this gets easier. To this day I can still remember the look on her face just before the house exploded, and sometimes I wonder if I had been a little faster or done things differently I could have saved her. I just want you to know that you are not alone. You are not the first to lose civilians you were trying to protect, nor will you be the last. This is something you will come to accept now that you are a hero-"

"I'm not a hero!" I snapped, my head whipping around to glare at her in anger. "I'm just some random asshole with superpowers!"

Wonder Woman's expression did not change at my outburst, and she continued to look at me evenly. "I don't believe you."

"Oh come on, just because I got my own stupid 'origin story' doesn't mean I'm suddenly qualified to do this! If I were a real hero maybe those people wouldn't be dead, but instead they got someone playing out a childhood fantasy!"

She let out a small hum. "You didn't sound like you were 'playing' when you told us to stay back. Why didn't you try to break combat and retreat?"

I looked at her incredulously. "People would have died if I did that! More people! There was nobody else who could do it, I had to!"

"So, you chose to put yourself in harm's way to save lives when no one else could." She remarked with an arched eyebrow. "That sounds like a hero to me."

I made an irritated noised as I looked away from the heroine. "Barely counts, I'm next to impossible to kill." Granted this probably was the closest I had ever come to death, but… huh, this was actually the closest I had ever come to death. I hadn't really thought about that until just then.

Wonder Woman's tone turned cool as she folded her arms across her chest. "Oh, so if I or Starfire fought gang members to save innocents, we wouldn't be heroes just because we couldn't be hurt?"

I felt a sudden wave of embarrassment as I looked back at her. "Well no, you, I mean, it wouldn't-" I stopped and pressed my lips into a thin line. "You're messing with me aren't you."

"If by that you mean 'pointing out your mental inconsistencies', then yes." Wonder Woman remarked with a small smirk before her expression became serious again. "Do you honestly feel that you are unfit to be a superhero?"

The anger and self-resentment I had felt before was starting to fade (I had never been good at holding on to such things), so I just let out a breath a slumped my shoulders. "I don't know. I don't know what makes someone _fit_ to be a superhero. I just figured that I'd know it in my gut at some point." I gestured vaguely. "I know that heroes don't always save everyone, and I know I probably did everything I possible could. But it doesn't feel _good enough_. I've watched people die in front of me, and this is a victory? It doesn't feel like one." Argh, I was starting to ramble.

Still, the heroine seemed to understand what I was saying and gave a slight nod. "I see. So, I suppose the important question is, do you _want_ to be a superhero?"

The question took me off guard, enough that it actually silenced me for a full minute. Eventually, after gathering my thoughts, I responded. "…you know what one of the tag lines for one of the most famous superheroes back home is? 'With great power comes great responsibility.' It's a bit cheesy in the modern age, but the sentiment behind it is something I've always found admirable. Even when the hero's life turned to shit, which it did with unfortunate frequency, he always carried on to help as many people as he could." I breathed in as I looked back at Wonder Woman. "I feel that I _should_ be a superhero, because it's the most meaningful thing I can do right now to help the world I'm in. Maybe that will change someday, but for now… yeah, I want to be a superhero."

"Then you will have to pick yourself up and continue forward." The heroine said warmly. "And know that if you stumble and fall, you need never be alone."

I let out a breath before I managed a weak smile. "Thank you, Wonder Woman."

She smiled back at me. "Call me Diana."

* * *

" _Recognized: Machina, B-0-7_ "

The golden light faded as I stepped out of the Zeta Tube and into the main hall of the Mountain. It had been several hours since my talk with Won- with Diana, and while I wasn't quite back at one hundred percent, I at least a bit more solid. I had spent the time since then helping out in the clean up and reconstruction, taking special care to find and reabsorb any nanite dust I had left lying around. I didn't know if the deactivated nanties would be of any use to anyone trying to discover their secrets, but I really didn't want to find out. Such as it was, the task had taken long enough that Kori had gone back before me, and the sun was starting to set as I finally made my way back home. The non-resident members of the team had probably gone home themselves, and my roommates would likely been in the common area or in their bedrooms.

So I was a little surprised at seeing two people in the main hall, watching a playback of the fight with Amazo on a holographic screen. Especially considering neither of them were team members. "Shouldn't you be resting?" I asked Black Canary as she turned to face me, noting the bandages peeking through tears in her jacket and leggings. Getting a good look at her for the first time, I noted how the blonde woman had more of a gymnast build as opposed to the Amazonian one I had become accustom to with Kori and Diana. She was still well muscled, but it was more compact.

"I only suffered minor injuries, I just needed a few hours to recover from exhaustion." The woman remarked. "I already had this trip planned for today, and I saw no reason to skip out."

I glanced at the person standing next to her, who took this as a signal to speak. "It was an opportunity to visit my niece, and make sure that her own education was coming along." Martian Manhunter's voice was surprisingly deep and resonate, though his tone was friendly. His form was decidedly less human than M'gann's with its solid red eyes, heavier brow and enlarged cranium, but it was not so exaggerated that I'd call it inhuman either. Then again, I think my perception of such things might have become skewed as of late. He held out his hand to me. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Machina. M'gann has told me much about you."

I grunted as I shook his hand. Normally I would have been far more excited to meet J'onn J'onzz, but that day I just wasn't in the mood. I looked back at Canary. "So… if you don't mind my asking, what did you come here for?"

"Today was the day that I started training the team." The woman replied. "Primarily martial arts, but we'll be getting to group tactics and strategy later."

I blinked at that. _That was today? Was I told about this?_ I thought to myself. I certainly didn't remember being told about it. Maybe since I was out with Wonder Woman I had been considered excused for the day. _Of course I really would have preferred to have done this a few weeks ago…_

I felt some flickers of anger start to form, but I pushed it back down. After some long seconds of awkward silence, I finally said "So, uh, how did the rest of the team do? At combat training, I mean."

Black Canary blinked before she said, "Ah, well, I only had time to get a feel for what they knew today, but I can tell you that their skill level varies. Robin is a skilled as most masters, he just needs to keep up his training as his body grows. Kaldur has a solid foundation as well, but most of his official training was for underwater combat, so there is room for some improvement. Kid Flash on the other hand will be starting from scratch, and Superboy…" She trailed off before she let out a sigh. "He has more than one issue to work through."

"What about Starfire?"

She rubbed her shoulder as if it ached. "Ugh, it's like sparring with Wonder Woman. She had strength, flight, and most importantly knows how to use both. Not sure how much I'm going to be able to teach her."

 _Well, she was being groomed to become a warrior queen_ , I thought to myself _. And if you're being trained by a bunch of guys called the Warlords of Okaara, you're probably getting a good education_. I didn't voice any of this though, because I as far as I knew Kori had yet to tell anyone about her royal status. Instead I just let out an amused hum.

Black Canary just shook her head and looked back at the screen behind her, which was now featuring myself trying to push back Amazo with a flurry of blows. I frowned, but Canary answered my question before I spoke. "Green Arrow carries a small camera on him at all times. Makes it useful for recoding evidence, or in this case recording fights for other heroes to pick out weaknesses against an opponent they might have to face."

She turned to face me. "Fortunately, you were able to take him down by yourself. However, it's clear that you need some instruction in how to fight. You made good use of your abilities, and you have a decent sense of trying to keep your opponent off balance, but going by the footage there's a lot to improve on."

And just like that, what little humor I had evaporated. I think Black Canary was going to continue, but she seemed to realize she had made a mistake when she saw my expression and stopped. After a silent beat, I spoke. "Oh, of course you're completely right. I mean, I've only been in combat about half a dozen times, so I'm quite inexperienced. Maybe if I had a little something, I might have saved one of those lives that were lost. It's almost like, it's been a whole month since I got here, and I haven't had any FUCKING TRAINING."

The two heroes flinched at that. I hadn't meant for the words to come out so harshly, but at the same time I wasn't feeling particularly charitable at the moment. Black Canary in particular shifted uncomfortably, looking off to the side as she said "Today should never have happened. It was too early for you to fight an opponent of that level. You shouldn't have had to step in."

"But I did. And now I have to live with it."

The cavernous room was silent for a long moment. Finally, Canary turned to face me. "I'm sorry. Now that I'm here, I can begin training you immediately."

My mouth pressed into a thin line. "Can you though?"

Her face hardened at that. "I have extensive training in several martial arts. I know that you are likely angry with me-"

"I am angry with you, but that's not the reason." I interrupted. "You're a master of human martial arts, which all make a few assumptions about the body you're using. You can teach me how to use my arms and legs, but what about my tail? Or my second set of arms? What about my xenomorph form, or any other form that I might come up with down the line?"

"Well, no, I can't teach anything for that." She replied. "But I would advise that you start with more standard martial arts anyway. Once you have a solid foundation, you can start incorporating your powers."

I shook my head. "These aren't just my powers, it's my body. I'm only shaped like a human right now because I want to be. I don't want a foundation that will prove to be too narrow and limiting because it makes assumptions about my biomechanics."

It was then that Martian Manhunter spoke. "Then perhaps I should be your teacher."

Black Canary and I looked at him in surprise. "J'onn, are you sure? I can take care of this." She said.

"I am sorry, but Machina is correct in that martial skills for shapeshifters are very different from those developed for more static forms. I am the only League member with enough experience in such combat to be an effective teacher. Aside from perhaps Plastic Man, but he is not a League member or… the most reliable. I can certainly see what I can impart on our learning hero."

I regained my wits as I said "That… actually would be great. I mean, you don't have to-"

"No, I do." The Martian insisted as he looked at me. "Machina, it is not Black Canary's fault that you didn't get the training you needed; it was the League's. When she was otherwise occupied, we should have provided you with another teacher in the interim. At least before your first mission, and especially before now. We all failed you, and we owe you both an apology and a debt for what you've done today."

My mouth worked open and closed as I tried to form words to respond. It wasn't much, but it felt like a small weight had been lifted off my shoulders at the Martian's heartfelt words. "I- thank you. I will try to make the most of your instruction."

He gave a small smile. "It is not such a bother, in any case. I was planning on coming here regularly to train my niece anyway. She expressed more interest in honing her mental abilities, but some shapeshifting training will do her some good as well." He nodded. "We can begin tomorrow. For now, I imagine that today has been most trying, and that you should get some rest. As well, I need to adjust my schedule in light of this, so I will see you tomorrow."

With that, the Martian turned and left, a flash of golden light marking his exit through the Zeta Tube. That left me and Black Canary standing awkwardly in the main hall. I shuffled a bit before I said "I guess I should turn in for the night. I'll see you around, I suppose."

Black Canary paused before spoke. "Machina," she started, her tone becoming soft. "I know that you probably don't right now, but I want you to know that if you ever want to talk, about anything at all, my door is always open."

I hesitated for a long moment before I simply nodded and turned to leave. Right now I really wanted to be left alone with my thoughts-

"Oh, one more thing." I heard, and I turned back to look at her. "Before training ended, Superboy mentioned that he was looking for you. I'm not sure for what, but it seemed pretty important."

I arched an eyebrow at that, but I nodded and said "I'll see what he wants." As I continued to walk I briefly considered leaving this off to tomorrow, but I decided against it. If Superboy of all people was asking after me, it was probably something that wouldn't keep.

I soon found Superboy in the common area watching the TV, but judging by the stormy expression in his face he wasn't really paying attention. I hesitated for only a moment before I approached. "Hey, I heard you were looking for me, what's up?"

The teen gave a start and stood up to face me. "Yeah, I, uh…" The teen shifted uncomfortably as he tried to figure out what to say, clearly feeling uncomfortable with whatever was bother him. Finally his features hardened and he looked at me. "I need you to scan my DNA. I need to know if there's something wrong with me."

I blinked in confusion. For a second the request seemed to come completely out of left field (and to me of all people) before I remembered what I had said to him a little over a week ago. About his lineage. "What brought this-" I started to say before I stopped, remembering who I was talking to. "You know what, it doesn't matter, I'll help. To the lab."

* * *

While I had spent most of my time in the past month inside the Mountain's tech lab, I had also spent a portion of said time in the med lab as well, in order to familiarize myself with the medical equipment located therein. This was both to further my self-taught general technology education and so that I could work the damn things if I was somehow the only person to do so. Actually, now that I thought about it, I might actually be the only person who _can_ do so other than Robin and Red Tornado. Probably should fix that at some point…

Anyway, it was a short while later that I found myself analyzing the readout from Superboy's physical scan with the teen standing behind me. The terminal screen in front of me was displaying data on his tissue composition, DNA, energy field metrics, and a few other things I only barely understood. As such I had spent a full ten minutes after the tests were done making sure I understood what it was telling me before Superboy lost his patience. "So, what does it mean?" He asked nervously.

I hesitated for a moment as I considered the best way to break it to him, but in the end I decided that it was best to be direct. "According to scans, only half of your DNA is Kryptonian. The other half is human."

His shoulders sagged, and he looked down at the ground. "So… that's why I'm not as strong as him, isn't it? That's why I don't have all of his abilities."

I turned to face him fully. "I'm not a biologist, but probably. I don't have very detailed data on Superman's physique, but from what I can tell entire sections of your tissue are human rather than Kryptonian. Kind of amazing that you function at all, actually."

That may have not been the best thing to say, as a moment later Superboy's head snapped back up to look at me with a furious glare. "So what, I'm barely functioning trash? Why would they make me this way?! Why didn't they just make me complete?!"

I held my hands up placating. "I'm not sure! I… I think it's because Kryptonian DNA is really hard to work with, at least with the current level of technology. It has a tendency to break down and mutate over time if everything isn't done perfectly." And then you get Bizzaro. As far as I knew that hadn't happened yet in this universe, so hopeful the guys who made Superboy realized this before getting too far. "I imagine making you half human made you a lot more stable and easier to create."

The teen calmed down a little before he gave me a questioning look. "How could you know that?"

"…Ask Batman." I said, deflecting the question. "Anyway, I'm sorry if it sounded insulting. I have no really background for this sort of thing, so it just seems mind boggling looking at it up close."

For a second I was worried that Superboy was going to press the issue of my knowledge further, but he then dropped the subject in favor of something else. "Who… did I come from?" I gave him a confused look, and he elaborated. "The human half of me, who did it come from?"

For a moment I tried to drag the answer out of my memory, but I honestly couldn't remember. I hadn't really read that much about Superboy in the comics. After a second I turned back to the terminal and started entering a set of queries. "Well, I can try running your profile through the League's DNA database and see if we get any partial matches, but I doubt that we'll get anything from it. That database only holds profiles on criminals, genetically 'unique' individuals, and a few other persons of interest. More likely your other 'parent' came from a list of donors, or maybe one of the staff working at Cadmus-"

I cut myself off when the terminal beeped at me, and I saw the result it had found. I stared at the screen for a moment before I let out an exasperated sigh and face palmed. Superboy tried to peer over my shoulder. "What? What did you find?" I leaned to the side to give him a better look at the screen, and there was a pregnant pause as he saw what I just had. "…Lex Luthor?"

"So it would seem." I remarked as I put my hand down, staring at the screen with pressed lips. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by something like this, but this raised a lot of questions. Ranging from 'has Lex's hate for Superman turned into something really weird and creepy?' to 'When the hell did Batman (because who else would it be) get a sample of Lex's DNA?'

For his part, Superboy just seemed confused. "I don't get it, he's some corporate magnate, right? Why is he my other… father?"

I frowned before I explained. "I'm not sure if you're aware, but Luthor has been opposing Superman secretly for years." Probably. Should really check if that's true in this universe, but it's a safe bet. "If his DNA is in you, it's intentional on his part. You said that Cadmus was making you to replace Superman if he ever went rogue, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, something tells me that you would have been used against him as soon as you were ready. Especially if Luthor had complete control over you."

Superboy sat down heavily on a nearby stool, his head in his hands. "Great. Just great. What the hell am I supposed to do now?"

I could hear the distress in his voice, and I felt a pang of sympathy for the clone. "Well, there's nothing really _to_ do about it. I mean, it doesn't really change who you are or what you've done so far. You've already started to make your own path as part of this team, so if you stick with that-"

"What's the point?!" He shouted as he looked up at me. "I'm just a poor copy! A cheap knockoff of the real thing! I'll never be as strong as him!"

I frowned. "Most superheroes aren't as strong as the Man of Steel, but that doesn't negate their existence. Besides there's plenty of stuff that you can do that he can't."

"Like what?!" He yelled angrily.

 _Like use telekinetic abilities_ , I almost said before I snapped my mouth shut. I wanted to say it. I really did. It was always one of the more interesting things about Superboy in the comics, and I'm sure it would do the teen good to hear about something that was all his own. But, aside from the fact that I actually wasn't sure he even had it, I wasn't allowed to tell him about it.

And at that moment I felt like a coward for not doing so. Sure, it was all brave and stuff for telling the Justice League about DC comics, but what the hell did that matter when I wouldn't tell the people I actually worked with every day? Doesn't he deserve to know what he might be capable of? Or would I just be endangering him and possibility getting his hopes up for nothing?

What should I… no, that's not the right question. There's no one to ask, no waiting for an answer anymore. The question wasn't 'what should I do'.

It was 'how was I going to help Superboy'.

Finally, I made up my mind. "I can't say for certain," I said. "But according to the scans the energy field that you give off is markedly different from Superman's. I'm not sure how, but if you give me some time, I think I'll find something interesting that you can use."

Superboy looked less than enthused at my statement. "'Something interesting'? Yeah right. Unless you can somehow fix half of me, it's not going to matter."

I let out a sigh before I walked over to him, and gripped him firmly by the shoulders. He filched a little at the contact, but he still looked up at me as I said "You are _not_ just half a Superman. I will not accept that, and neither should you. I promise you that I will find whatever enhancements or powers your body might be hiding. And if I can't, I'll help you find something else if you think you need it. You _will_ be the hero you want to be, I swear it."

His eyes widened in surprise at that, and after a moment he looked off to the side and muttered his thanks. I smiled a little at that, though I knew I had a long road ahead of me. I was going to tell him (and the rest of the team) about my origin someday, probably someday soon, but for now I was just going to have to start working. Because Diana was right, I'm not in this alone. And more importantly, I'm not the only one who could use some help. I don't know if I can ever live up to her expectations, but that's not going to stop me from trying.

So, I'm picking myself up and moving forward. Because I'm going to help make this the best god damn team the world has ever seen.

=====A=====


	16. 5-1

=====A=====

I rubbed my face in frustration as I scrolled through the latest scientific paper I downloaded, straining to understand what I was looking at. Another week had ticked by, and with Doctor Roquette still missing I had opted to move forward with studying myself without her. I still sincerely hoped that the Justice League would find her soon, but recent events had shown that the world wasn't exactly going to wait for me to be ready before throwing me into the thick of it. And so, I was now working on becoming an amateur claytronics programmer. Which was slow going since I was also trying to become an amateur xeno-geneticist, what with my promise to Superboy to find out if he really does have hidden powers. And that wasn't even counting how I also was working on becoming an amateur mechanic and all around technologist and-

Good lord how the hell did Renaissance Men do this?

I grumbled as I leaned back in my chair. "I may have to narrow my scope a bit…" I muttered to myself. The past week had been almost nothing but study and training, and considering I didn't sleep I like to think that I had made some decent progress. This has caused things to start to blur together a bit, though. I'm not sure what differences, if any, there were between a normal human mind and my own, but it seemed that having no mental breaks still wasn't terribly good for me.

As I thought about what to focus on, my eyes fell on the hand written notes that were sprawled out to my side, listing the various ideas I had about how to use my latest upgrades. It was awhile after the incident before I had even thought about what I had gotten from Amazo, but the results I had gotten when I finally got around to it were… interesting. If complicated. I had hoped that by assimilating the android I would have been able to just get its power copying ability, but that wasn't quite what I got. Insofar as I could tell, Amazo functioned because it was made out of an exceedingly complicated and mutable combination of subsystems. The ones I had identified so far (in broad terms of functionality) were energy distribution, matter reconfiguration, kinetic energy manipulation, an information processing system, and _something_ involving altering electronuclear forces.

Each of these on their own had various levels of uses to me so far. The energy distribution system was more or less useless as my nanties could handle that flawlessly already. The electronuclear thing was _less_ than useless because it did not play nice with my nanite cohesion, instantly annihilating whatever part of my body I had formed it in. (obviously it was the reason I had trouble assimilating Amazo in the first place, and was a damn shame considering how that particular feature was probably how it could manage more exotic effects.) The matter and kinetic systems proved more useful, but at the moment were difficult to control.

The information processor I had the most hopes for though, as it seemed to mesh particularly well with my body. A few experiments had shown that my 'destructive interface' ability had improved dramatically, requiring far less damage to the target system before I had control than before. Plus, so long as I kept the system formed each attempt actually got better. I was still working with Kord to get a proper test set up, but if I could use that subsystem to connect to my nanite's 'software' directly, it may be the solution to my problems.

Speaking of software, I unfortunately didn't get any of the software that Amazo had, which probably had a fair number of programs dedicated to managing and operating all of these systems in tandem. Such as it was, I was going to have to figure out how to make them all work on my own.

Still, there was one more interesting thing I gained from that android, something more fundamental. I don't know if it was only because he was 'accessing' me while I assimilated him or I would have gotten it anyway, but my nanites now seemed to understand the _concept_ of subsystems. It was a subtle distinction, but before whenever I formed a piece of technology it would form in as much as a single contiguous mass as possible. Which had its advantages, but made it next to impossible to put mutually exclusive types of tech right next to each other. Of course, even though that was no longer an issue, I still had to understand what I was doing, and that… well…

 _Why the hell do my powers have to be so arbitrary and complicated?_ I thought. I was starting to get a headache. And that didn't even make sense.

I shook my head and glance at the clock on the wall. _It's almost time anyway, I might as well call it. The womenfolk will give me disappointed glares if they find me working on Beach Day,_ I thought to myself as I got up and walked out of the tech lab. I'm not sure when the decision was made, but the team decided that with the recent spell of good weather we should take advantage of it by hitting the private beach near the Mountain. I had a few concerns about privacy, but the beach in question was on the opposite side of the mountain from Happy Harbor, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

I adjusted my white swim trunks as I walked towards the common area, and I picked up pieces of a conversation. "…can't make it?"

"Nah, Wally slacked off a bit last year, so he has to make it up in remedial. Which starts today. Poor bastard…"

 _I guess Kaldur and Robin are already here_. As I came out of the corridor into the common area, I spotted the two of them along with Superboy hanging out near the couch. The three had already gotten into their swimsuits (blues and blacks) and now seemed to be waiting on the rest of us. Robin in particular was ready to go. "Do we have to go get them? They know what time it is, right?"

"The girls are getting changed now. Jacob was in the lab last I knew." Superboy said.

Kaldur shifted his weight. "Jacob spends a great deal of time there. While his quest for self-improvement is a reasonable one, I do hope he remembers there are other things to life."

"What higher pursuit could there possibly be than SCIENCE." I said as I walked up to the bunch.

Kaldur turned to face me, but whatever he had been planning to say died on his lips as he saw me, his eyes widening in surprise. "Jacob! You look… good."

"Holy crap, you have skin!" Robin exclaimed as he too looked at me past his sunglasses. "And hair!"

I smiled as I set my hands on my hips, letting them look at my mostly human form. Once my body had recognized the concept of subsystems, growing skin had become a lot easier. Before when I had tried to form a dermal layer I always had to fight to keep it from fusing into the layer beneath it, and I could never get it to stretch in the right way. But my recent upgrade had given me a lot to work with, and after a little bit of experimentation and the human frame I got from Mister Twister's pilot… I looked human again.

Well, mostly. I was still grey skinned with solid grey eyes, and I had a few parts which were alien looking. My 'spine' was more pronounced and furrowed, the same with my knuckles and a few joints. But hey, since I made the rest of this body from scratch, I got to create my subdermal 'muscles' as I saw fit. My abs were firm enough to grate cheese with them.

There was also another quirk about my current form. I ran a hand through the short white threads that covered my scalp. "Actually, they're thin diamond threads. The structure of real hair is bloody complicated."

When it came to making things with the molecular forge I had copied from the Psion ship, I had to be able to properly visualize whatever materials or compounds I was making. Funnily enough, this meant that while the complex organic compounds that make up human hair were beyond me, things like carbon nanotubes (or diamonds) were easy.

Superboy just gave a small grunt at that. He and the rest of my roommates had seen me working on my form all day yesterday, so he had seem me like this already (seriously, it still took me several hours to get to where I was, I sure hope practice helps for the next time I have to do it). Kaldur collected himself quickly and gave me a small nod. "It seems you've managed to regain your human form. Congratulations."

I shrugged. "Thanks, but I still have ways to go. This is just my appearance, I still have some work to do on getting my physical senses back to full." That said, I had gotten a very pleasant surprise when I found that my much more pliable skin greatly increased my sense of pressure and texture. I wasn't there yet, but I was feeling more human than I ever had since I got this body.

"Well, at your current rate, you'll get there sooner than later." Superboy commented. "You think your training with Martian Manhunter is helping?"

"A bit too soon to say. We've only been through the basics and gotten a handle on just how my shapeshifting differs from a Martian's." Most of my training thus far had been focusing on speed and balance, trying to get as much control over my physical form as possible. "Still, I've at least gotten better at this since I started, so I must be doing something right."

He smirked at me. "Well, if you ever need help training you know where to find me. If you don't mind getting knocked around a little." He said. I didn't just train with J'onn, as learning to fight humanoid opponents was also a useful skill to learn. Superboy and Kori were the ones I sparred with the most as I had the least chance of hurting them if I went all out.

I shrugged and smirked back. "Hey if that's what you need to tell yourself to feel better when you're looking up at me from the ground…"

It looked like he was about to say something else but he paused and tilted his head to the side. I focused on my hearing, and sure enough I heard voices approaching.

 _"There's nothing wrong with them, I just don't understand why I have to wear one. We are going to the beach, after all."_

 _"Kori, you can't just be naked in public! There are laws against that sort of thing here on Earth."_

 _"But you said this is a private beach, so it will just be us. Besides, Jacob is naked all the time, and no one seems to mind."_

 _"T-that's different! He's not showing- well, revealing certain parts is shameful."_

 _"Shameful? M'gann, it's our bodies. What could we possibly be ashamed of?"_

I saw Superboy put on a confused look, but Robin hadn't heard what we just did and said "So… should we just go on ahead and let the girls catch up or what?"

I turned to look at him. "They're on their way now. Besides, I would think you'd want to see women in swimsuits."

However, the boy just waved me off. "Dude, do you have any idea how many women in skimpy outfits or barely anything at all I've run across while with Batman? It gets old after the fifth time they try to kill you. Besides, I haven't really… gotten girls yet, you know?"

I arched an eyebrow at that, but before I could say anything M'gann came into from the adjacent hallway. "Alright, let's hit the beach!" she said excitedly. The Martian wore a yellow bikini/hot pants combination, which made a rather interesting contrast with her green skin. It was also a bit more revealing than I would have expected for the somewhat demure girl, but then she might see today as a chance to do something different.

A second later Kori followed after her and oh dear lord grant me strength.

Earlier I had wondered if Kori would adopt her v-style swimsuit uniform as her official costume (and was somewhat relieved when she didn't). Well, it seems that this universe had a sense of humor because Kori somehow found the _actual swimsuit_ version of her 80's costume. There was a collar of cloth around the base of her neck, bottoms that revealed a generous amount of hip, and a pair of strips running down the front to connect the two. And not much else.

"So, what do you think?" As she turned in place to give us a good view. "There were a lot of options, but this one caught my fancy."

In spite of myself, I smiled as I said "It suits you perfectly." Kori smiled back as she continued her pirouette. She definitely had the full attention of the various males in our group, though I myself was older and more resistant to such things. As such, I did not stare as she stretched her arms above her head, arching her back in such a way to draw attention to how the lines of the suit complimented the lines and curves of her form, as well as the patterns of light beneath her skin that flowed along with her movements.

Yep. Much more resistant.

As she finished Kori cast her gaze at the rest of us, and a playful smirk crossed her face. "Speaking of perfect sights…" She moved towards us and before I knew it she had stepped between Superboy and I, her arms wrapping around our shoulders. "The longer I stay here, the more I come to like this planet."

Almost out of reflex, my arm wrapped around her waist in response. The contact felt nice, even if I wasn't getting heat. Superboy though seemed to be a bit uncomfortable with the situation. He was getting better when it came to physical contact, but he still had some trouble with how… affectionate Kori could be.

A fact that M'gann did not fail to notice, and was less than amused. "Kori, we talked about this…"

Kori saw the Martian's mood and she stood up straighter. "Oh, I'm sorry! I was being thoughtless again." She said as she lifted her arms off of our shoulders. This seemed to settle M'gann down a little… until Kori closed the distance between the two of them and wrapped her arms around the smaller girl instead. M'gann let out a squeak as she found Kori pressed close and smiling affectionately. "You're looking quite lovely too."

My mouth pressed into a thin line as M'gann began to stutter and turn a very deep shade of green. The scene in front of me was certainly cute and amusing, but I was starting to worry that the antics of our leader might be a little too much for my teammates. I hope I didn't have to explain the concept of sexual harassment to Kori.

At my side, Robin tilted his head. "Ok… I think I get it now." He said quietly as he stared at the scene in front of us. Or more accurately stared at Kori's rear.

And to top it off it looks like she just caused Dick to hit puberty. Great. "Let's just get to the beach already."

* * *

Only a few clouds were scattered across the sky when we finally got out of the Mountain, and the pristine beach had waves gently lapping against the shore. Kori bolted for the water almost instantly, and most of the group followed her. M'gann however paused for a moment on the beach itself. "Hello Megan! We should hit the beach every day." The Martian said as she pointed excitedly at the water stretching out in front of us.

This gave me pause though, and I turned to look at the girl with an arched eyebrow. "Wait, do you know how to swim?" I asked, thinking of how Mars lacked a certain something to explain such a skill.

M'gann gave an embarrassed laugh. "Ah, not exactly. My telekinesis can move me through water as well as air, if not as easily. But, I've always wanted to learn to do it like humans do! Because swimming is a thing humans do for fun!"

I couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm. "Well, I'd be happy to-" I started to say before I stopped and started again. "Err, I mean, I'm sure that Robin or Superboy could show you." She gave me a questioning look, and I let out a sigh before I said "I can't really swim at the moment."

She gave a start. "You don't know how to swim?"

"No, I know how, I just physically can't." I explained. "I'm not really buoyant anymore. Not since I became like this." Under normal circumstances, my body was almost completely solid all the way through. In my earlier experimentation I had tried filling my body with air pockets to offset this, and it kind of worked. I could float, but actually swimming was… awkward. I didn't have the same density or distribution of air through my structure as human, so all the motions I knew felt frustratingly off.

M'gann looked at me pensively for a moment, and then she moved forward and wrapped her arms around me in a hug. I blinked in confusion for a moment before I hugged her back. "Ok… not complaining, but what brought this on?"

"Well, I was talking to Koriand'r-"

"Of course you were."

"-and she said that anytime it looked like you were being sad and lost in your own thoughts, I should just hug you. Because she said that always seemed to work for her."

"…I am easily placated by hugs from females." I admitted. "But, you really don't have to."

"I just don't want you to feel left out." She insisted, still not letting go of me as she looked up at face. "You don't… since Amazo you haven't really come out of the tech lab except for dinner, and then you still can't eat, so you just sit there, and I feel like you're apart from the rest of us most of the time because of your problems with your body, and I don't want you to feel alone…"

I stared at her for a moment as she babbled before I let out a sigh and pulled her closer, resting my chin atop the shorter girl's head. "You're a good girl, M'gann. Thank you." I… this wasn't the first time that I had withdrawn into my own devices so much that my social life had been neglected. But being reminded that people missed you was… nice.

Finally we split apart and I cast a glance at the others in the water, noticing that Superboy in particular was looking at us with a slight frown on his face. "Hey Superboy!" I called out, and the teen stood up straighter. "You know how to swim, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Because you now have a pupil." I said as I nudged M'gann towards him. "Teach her well. Her planet has no water, so you're starting from scratch. If you do a poor job, it will make all us wet planet dwellers look bad."

"Uh, yeah, sure." He said, and M'gann's face split into a grin as she walked over to the half-Kryptonian. I gave a small chuckle before I followed after.

I couldn't really swim, but most of the team hung out in the shallow end while they were in the water anyway. All in all I still had a good time slashing around with my friends. Besides which, that wasn't all we had planned for the day. After a quick lunch we split into two teams and played a couple of rounds of volleyball. It was a tough battle, but me, Superboy and Robin managed to come out on top.

We eventually moved on to building sand castles, but at some point shenanigans occurred and this morphed into burying Superboy under a pile of sand while he took a nap. The pile got to about my waist before Kaldur and I had to go back to water to get another pile of wet sand. As we were gathering the material up I glanced over at the teen and asked. "So… how have things been with you?" Kaldur and I have had a number of polite conversations over the past few weeks, but to be honest I still didn't really know that much about him.

Kaldur shrugged. "Quiet, aside from training. The mission Batman sent us on a few days ago to locate Professor Ivo turned out to be nothing but dead ends. The scientist has covered his tracks well."

I blinked and stood up straighter. "Mission? What mission? I wasn't told anything."

The teen looked uncomfortable. "It wasn't a formal mission as such, only myself, Robin and Kid Flash were tasked to do some information gathering. I wasn't aware that you were not informed of it. I… am not sure I can speculate on why Batman would not let you know."

I felt a small spike of irritation before I let it go. "I have a few guesses."

Kaldur on the other hand seemed to think I was thinking of something else, and put his hand on my shoulder. "You will get your chance. I know things with the team have been… a bit chaotic, but we are still coming into our own as a group. You will be able to prove yourself soon enough."

I paused for a moment before I said "Thanks," though to be honest I found myself wondering about the calm and serious teen in front of me. Robin's back story I knew, Wally wanted to be like Barry, M'gann was a well-meaning girl, and Superboy… well, he was looking for a sense of purpose if I had to put words to it. Kaldur on the other hand I couldn't quite pin down. "Hey, if you don't mind my asking… why are you a superhero? I mean, why did you choose to do it?"

He was taken off guard by the question for a moment, but after he gave it some consideration he replied "I fight in service to my king. Since I was young I had decided that I would join the Atlantian military, and while I was in training I had the opportunity to assist my king against an enemy of the state known as Ocean Master. He then took me as an apprentice. Which lead to me fighting by his side when he engaged in superhero work on the surface."

He shifted a bit. "I suppose since then I have developed attachment on the surface. To this nation, to the Justice League, to my friends. I have many reasons to keep doing what I am doing. So, in short, I fight out of a sense of duty, to keep what I have come to care about safe."

 _It's strange seeing this kind of conviction in someone his age._ I thought to myself. _Not bad, but…_

"Yo, hurry it up with that sand." Robin called out, and I snapped out of my thoughts as we headed back to the giant pile with our arms full. "What took you so long, needed to pick out the best clumps of sand?"

I shrugged as I patted down another layer. "Nah, just… doing some things I've been neglecting for a while. I'm coming to realize I probably shouldn't spend so much time cooped up in the lab."

"No kidding. You've almost been as bad as Batman lately." The boy remarked as he worked on his side of the growing mound. "What do you even do in there all day?"

"Oh, a bunch of stuff. Studying various sciences, mapping out where in the Mountain we might need more defenses, secretly collecting blackmail, practicing building new hardware-"

"Wait, what was that one in the middle?" Robin asked.

"Mapping out the Mountain?"

"No, the one after that."

"Building new hardware?"

"No, the one before that."

"I have video evidence of you hacking your school's computers from the Mountain so you could go play hooky when the year starts?"

"No, the other- Wait what?!"

The shouting then caused Superboy to wake up. "Uh… wait what the hell?"

"SMOKE BOMB!" I yelled. I didn't actually have a smoke bomb, I just yelled it before running away cackling like a madman.

* * *

Things started to wind down after that. We hadn't really set a time to head back in, but we had run the gamut of beach related activities by that point. The group had got to talking about teenage stuff, so I walked a short distance away to watch the waves lapping against the shore. After a while some motion caught my attention, and I looked to the side as Kori moved up next to me. "Feeling more yourself?" She asked.

I made a small sound at that. "In a manner of speaking." I replied. The woman had occasionally poked her head in to my domain over the week to check in on me ever since the fight. "Feeling better at least. I'll-"

"Be fine?" she completed for me, using the response I had usually given her.

I rolled my eyes at that, but I got her point. "Alright, I'll stop trying to shrug things off so much. But seriously I…" I trailed off for a moment, trying to form a slightly more in depth answer. "I feel different. Like everything I've been through has changed me a little. And that's not a bad thing. I just know now that I have to be the best person, the best hero I can for the world. And for them." I said as I nodded at the team. "And for…" I trailed off as I looked back at her.

A warm smile played across her face as she looked back at me. There was a long moment of silence between us before she spoke. "It makes me happy to hear that… but you're still so serious. Clearly you have not gotten quite enough fun for the day."

"Oh? And how do you propose we fix that?" I asked with some amusement.

Kori leaned in close… and poked me in the chest. "You are it." She then dashed away into the surf as she laughed, her hair streaming out behind her as she ran.

I blinked as I looked after her before I broke out in laughter as well and sprinted after her.

* * *

It was late afternoon by the time we all had our fill, and we headed back towards the Mountain entrance. As we walked back though, my internal comlink received an incoming wave, and when I picked up I heard a familiar growl. " _Batman to Machina, are you in a location where you can speak discretely?_ "

I arched an eyebrow, but I kept walking forward as I replied without opening my mouth. " _I can subvocalize, is that enough? What's going on?_ "

A grunt before Batman said " _Do you know anything about a superhero/vigilante named Artemis?_ "

I was silent for several long seconds as I searched through my memories. " _…_ _I think there is an Amazon on Themyscria that goes by the name, but I'm drawing a blank otherwise._ " The name vaguely reminded me with something about a guy with a scythe running a sort of hunger games style death battle underneath Antarctica, but it was such a random memory that I couldn't even tell if it was actually related to what we were talking about. " _Why?_ "

" _Green Arrow and I are introducing a new member to your team._ " He said. " _I wanted to be certain that there weren't any… storylines that would suggest that was a bad idea_."

 _"…_ _if she was a geokinetic named Terra I would start getting worried, but I honestly can't tell you anything about Artemis._ " Definitely not one of the main Justice League at least. Possibly a minor character… or minor villain. " _Do you think she might be a threat?_ "

Batman paused before he said. " _Artemis has been vetted by myself and Green Arrow. While she may be the sole member of your team whose secret identity you do not know, do not go prying into her personal life without cause._ "

" _Sir, I wouldn't do that._ "

" _Good. Inform the team that I will have a mission for them tonight. Green Arrow and I will be bringing Artemis to the Mountain shortly for introductions._ "

With that the call ended, and my attention was brought back to the present. Which was why I then noticed that Robin was giving me an odd look. "You were on a call, weren't you? Who was it?"

 _It's still weird how perceptive that kid is_ , I thought to myself. "Yep, and it was Batman. Looks like we've got a surprise waiting for us…"

=====A=====


	17. 5-2

=====A=====

"Alright team, I want you to give a warm welcome to your new teammate, Artemis. She's my niece." Green Arrow said as he gestured to the teenage girl at his side. The lot of us had gathered in the main hall to meet the newcomer, having changed into our costumes beforehand (I shifted back into my armored form, though I kept my human head). Green Arrow, dressed very much like a modern take on Robin Hood, was flanked by Batman and Red Tornado, though everyone's attention was now on the new girl.

Artemis, as it turned out, was a blonde girl in her mid-teen dressed in green formfitting combat pants and what I could only describe as a combat halter top. It revealed her belly and left her arms bare (additional armguards notwithstanding), but also merged with the mask that covered most of her face. It revealed enough of her eyes and mouth that I could tell she had some Asian ancestry in her, but that was about it. Still, the bow and quiver on her back, along with how she stood next to Green Arrow, made it clear where her proficiency lay.

Starfire, as our intrepid leader, stepped up first to greet her. "Hello Artemis. It is my pleasure to welcome you to this team. May you find us your brothers and sisters on the battlefield." She said as she held out her hand.

I leaned over to Robin and whispered "I taught her that."

I am not certain what kind of reception Artemis was expecting, but it was clear from the look on her face that it wasn't the one Starfire had just given. She blinked owlishly for a moment before she took the woman's hand in kind. "Uh, yeah, sure. I'm here to fight the good fight and all that."

"Great!" Starfire said as she pulled her hand back. "I am Koriand'r, but my title is Starfire." She then turned to the rest of us and listed us off. "This is Machina, Superboy, Miss Martian, Aqualad, and Robin. We have one more member who will be along shortly, he was caught up in personal matters. Oh!" She turned back. "That reminds me, will you be living in the Mountain, or do you have your own arrangements?"

"Uh, I have a home. Wait, I don't have to live here do I? I… kinda want to keep my privacy." The girl said with sudden concern.

I stepped up. "Nah, that's only if you don't have anywhere else to go. Those of us that do live here don't have a secret identity or don't care."

"I do!" Miss Martian protested. "I just… haven't gotten around to using it yet."

"Oh, well, my apologies. Anyway, point is you only have to share as much as you feel comfortable with."

"Right, right…" Artemis said, glancing at the lot of us before she seemed to get her footing back under her. "So, got to say, thought I would recognize more of you. Aren't you supposed to be sidekicks?"

"We don't like to use that word." Robin said quickly.

"It's a little more complicated than that." I elaborated. "Several of us have only started hero work recently. As well, we come from a rather… wide range of origins."

"I can see that. I suppose I should have expected something like that joining a team of metahumans."

"Actually, Kid Flash is the only metahuman on the team." I said before pointing around the room. "Half-Kryptonian, Martian, Tamaranian, and Atlantian. Now that I think about it most of the team is physically non-human." I paused for a moment as a thought occurred to me, and I looked at Aqualad. "Err, do Atlantians consider themselves human? Or something else?"

The teen shifted uncomfortably. "That is a… complicated subject amongst Atlantians, particularly considering our origins. In general though my people consider themselves Atlantians before anything else."

For her part, Artemis just arched an eyebrow. "Neat. But what are you then?" she asked me pointedly.

"Post-human. I don't have the metagene… or any genes for that matter. I'm made of nanomachines."

"…How'd you manage that? Little too much iron in your diet?"

I shrugged. "Oh you know, just a tired old recipe I had to try. A cup of alien abduction, a tea spoon of unethical experiments, and just a dash of hyper advanced nanotech with a side of unexpected consciousness uploading. Now with forty percent more existential dread!"

Artemis looked put off for a moment before she frowned. "I-I think you should have stuck to paleo. Would have put on less weight that way."

I arched an eyebrow. "You could stand to put on a bit more. What are you, a hundred pounds even? My god, eat a muffin, girl."

She glared at me for that, so I glared back at her in response. I managed to hold the expression for a few seconds before I started to chuckle. I glanced back at the team. "She can stay."

I heard Artemis snort at that. "Well, I guess that makes it official then."

Starfire nodded. "Well enough. Now, while I would prefer more time for you to get acquainted with us as a group, I am afraid that with a mission imminent we must focus on other matters. Primarily, your role on our team and familiarizing you with all of our abilities and specialties. Given your use of the bow, you should be…"

Starfire then began to explain the abilities and roles of everyone on the team, so I took the opportunity to step away. She didn't need me for this, and there was something I wanted to take care of while I had the opportunity. I walked over to Batman and said in a low voice. "Can I talk to you privately?"

The man looked at me for a moment before he made a motion with his head and the two of us walked to the other end of the room. The main hall was huge, so we were a good fifty feet away from everyone else before we came to a stop. "What did you want to talk about?" Batman asked as he faced me.

"I want to be made a full member of the team."

The man's expression didn't noticeably change at my statement, but I got the impression that he was raising an eyebrow underneath his cowl. "I see. Why?"

"A few reasons. One of which being I'm not sure I should have been held from being a ful member in the first place. It was understandable given the conceit that I was significantly less trained than everyone else, but… sir, were you aware that Superboy had gotten almost _zero_ combat conditioning when you put him on the team?" That had caught me off guard when I had finally learned the extent of Superboy's psychic education. Cadmus had made him to be a living weapon, and downloaded enough information into his brain that he could write a ten page essay on the Cotton Gin from memory… and yet somehow neglected to actually teach him how to fight. Actual martial arts might be excused, those require muscle memory and reflexes that perhaps the Genomorphs couldn't parse, but there's still no excuse for the lack of tactical knowledge.

Batman shifted slightly before he answered. "Superboy's temperament when we first found him was… defiant, to say the least. He would not have taken it well if I insisted that he was not a full member of the team that Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash formed. Enough that he might have chosen to leave. I decided to take the risk."

"But what if he didn't know his own strength? He could have killed someone." I insisted.

"Until he got the proper training, I only planned on sending the team on non-combat missions, or against targets that could take that level of punishment." Batman's mouth pressed into a thin line. "It hasn't quite work out that way, but like I said, it was a risk."

I wanted to argue the point some more, but I remembered that I was already arguing something else and moved on. "Regardless, my point is we started out with basically the same amount of training and experience. Hell, I might have more combat experience than him at the moment. And that brings me to my second point; I've played an active role in every combat I've been to anyway. Staying back now seems kind of pointless."

Batman's eyes narrowed slightly. "Just because your previous circumstances have been unique and extreme doesn't mean that every mission is going to be like that."

"Yes, but that's happened on every mission." I insisted. "Look, the world clearly isn't waiting for me to be fully prepared and trained up. If anything my experiences proved that my team needs me. I'm not going to start suddenly charging in head first, but I am going to start more actively supporting the mission. So, unless you think that my performance is lacking…"

Batman was silent for a long moment before he cast his gaze downward. "I am displeased with the circumstances that required your performance. I understand that our line of work is hardly safe, but I had hoped to see your actions in a more controlled environment first." He turned his gaze back up to me. "However, your points are valid. You have performed admirably under pressure, have not been reckless with your choices, and you have demonstrated a reasonable amount of restraint when dealing with baseline humans. There was only one requirement left you had you to fulfill to get full membership."

"And what was that?" I asked as I raised a questioning eyebrow.

"You had to ask for it." Batman said, and with that he stepped past me and walked back towards the group. I followed after him slightly confused, and when we reached the group he said. "Team, I have an announcement. In light of his performance, as of this moment Machina is a full member of this team, with all of the duties that entails."

"Oh, congratulations!" Miss Martian said excitedly.

"Pretty sure he was more or less one of us already…" Superboy said. "But yeah, welcome aboard, or whatever."

"Wait, he wasn't actually on the team?" Artemis asked.

I ignored them and looked at Batman. "Really? I had to ask?"

He looked back at me. "Caution and humility are good traits, but superhero work requires a certain degree of decisiveness. You can't just accept to being a hero. You have to choose it."

I opened my mouth before I closed it again. I didn't really have any response for that. Lucky for me, I didn't have to, as a second later the Zeta Tube activated.

" _Recognized: Kid Flash, B-0-3._ "

When the light died down, it revealed Wally… dressed in swim trunks and carrying a huge load of beach gear (beach ball, beach umbrella, cooler, and a surfboard of all things) in his arms. _Does… he not realize that the sun is already setting?_ I wondered.

Apparently not, as a moment later he started to run into the hall yelling "The Wall-man is here! Now let's get this party star-!"

That was as far as he got before his legs became entangled with the pole of the beach umbrella he was carrying. He crashed to the ground in a heap with all of his stuff. The volley ball bounced a couple of timed before it rolled off into the distance. The lot of us stared at him as Wally lifted his head. "-ted." He finished weakly.

"Wall-man, huh?" Artemis said with a smirk. "Love the uniform. What exactly are your powers?"

"Who is this?" Wally asked as he got to his feet, irritation in his voice.

"Artemis, your new teammate." She said.

"Kid Flash, never heard of you."

 _Damn it, Wally_ , I thought to myself. To be fair, I couldn't expect everyone to respond to snark with the same cheer that I do, be he could have handled that a bit more gracefully.

Green Arrow stepped up next to her. "She's my new protégé."

"W-what happened to the old one?!" Wally exclaimed. Before anyone could answer though the Zeta Tube behind him whirred to life again, and golden light flashed as the synthetic voice chimed.

" _Recognized: Speedy, B-0-6_ "

The light faded to reveal a young man walking towards us, dressed in a black and red costume that was somewhere between Green Arrow's and Artemis's, with a domino mask on his face. "Well for starters, he doesn't go by Speedy anymore." He said with a slight growl. "Call me Red Arrow."

And here was our supposed mission giver. I had found it odd that it wasn't Batman giving us the briefing, but it seemed something went down earlier today which Red Arrow had been involved in, so it was decided that he would be giving the details. I remembered that other guys said something about hoping to wrangle this guy onto the team a few weeks back, but I had been distracted at the time so I never followed up on it _. I just hope he's having a bad day and hasn't already shifted into edgelord Arsenal mode_ , I thought.

For his part, Green Arrow looked surprised. "Roy! You look-"

"Replaceable." The younger man said flatly as he walked towards up.

"It's not like that, you told me you were going solo."

"So why waste time finding a sub?" The red head snapped. "Does she even know how to use that bow?"

I arched an eyebrow at the exchange. Okay, there definitely had to be some context or subtext I was missing here. No way was this guy throwing a fit just because his mentor got a replacement after he left. Then again, his tone was kind of… edgy.

Artemis, not one to take such a comment lying down, stepped up to the much taller man. "Yes, she can." She said defiantly.

"Who are you?!" Wally insisted.

"She's my/I'm his niece." Artemis and Green Arrow said at once.

"She is not your replacement." Aqualad said as he walked up to Red Arrow. "We've always wanted you on the team, and we have no quota on Archers."

"And if we did, you know who we'd pick." Wally said.

 _God damn it Wally_ , I thought. This is going to make things difficult between the two of them later, I just knew it.

For the moment though Artemis just brushed the comment off. "Whatever Baywatch, I'm here to stay. Big Grey here confirmed it and everything."

Eyes turned on me, and I coughed awkwardly. "So, heard that you have a mission for us. What do you need us to do?"

"Protect Dr. Serling Roquette."

"You found Doctor Roquette?!" Everyone in the room started at that, mostly because I had just shouted. "What happened to her? Where is she? Is she alright?"

Red Arrow scowled at me. "She's fine. She was abducted two weeks ago, but I rescued her earlier today. What's it to you?"

"She's my acting physician." I said with a loud sigh of relief. "Thank Christ she's alright. I had been meaning to look into that again, but… things came up."

The other man's scowl did not lessen. "And just who are you?"

"Oh where are my manners," I said before I stepped towards him and extended my arm. "Machina. Joined the team about a month ago. Pleasure to meet you."

Red Arrow looked at my hand for a moment before he turned and looked back at the team. "The doctor was captured by the League of Shadows in order to build them a weapon. It's called the Fog."

He walked away from me and pulled out a device from his belt, and with a press of a button a holographic screen appeared and showed us data and an image of several individual nanites. I stood there awkwardly for a moment before I let my hand fall to my side.

Well then.

Wally, not caring about the social faux pas, perked up. "Whoa, the League of Shadows? That's hardcore!"

Red Arrow ignored him and continued. "Comprised of millions of microscopic infiltrators, these machines are capable of disintegrating anything in their path. Concrete, steel, flesh and bone."

 _God lord that's horrifying_ , I thought to myself. I mean, the idea that she was captured for her research had certainly occurred to me, but I was under the impression that she just worked with information systems. The fact that her creations could do all that… "Please tell me we're not looking at a grey goo scenario." I said. I doubted that Roquette managed to build these things with a functioning nuclear forge, but if she had…

Thankfully, Red Arrow shook his head. "No, they can't build more of themselves, and without the doctor the Shadows can't make more. But what they do have is dangerous enough, especially when it comes to what they were actually made for: data retrieval. These nanites can strip the data from any device they consume, before delivering the stolen intel the Shadows. Depending on their target, they could gain anything from military secrets to cutting edge technology."

 _Ah, there it is. Well, still wouldn't help them much if the data was strongly encrypted_ , I thought to myself. _Of course, if these things can just tear through and consume any computer in a building, odds are there is still plenty valuable info it can pick up. Never mind if it just finds the encryption key_. Putting all that aside, I asked "So, how do we stop it?"

"The doctor is working on a virus to neutralize the Fog, and a way to track it. But the moment she does start tracking it, the Shadows will know, and they'll target her. I have her stashed at a nearby highschool's computer lab."

"You left her alone?" Green Arrow asked incredulously.

"She's safe enough for now." Red Arrow said dismissively.

"Then let's you and I keep her that way." The older man insisted.

"You and I? Don't you want to take your new protégé?" The younger man said with the hint of a sneer.

Green Arrow looked like he was about to say more, but Batman put a hand on his shoulder. The two looked at each other before Green Arrow looked back at his former student. "You brought this to the team. It's their mission. Which means it's hers now too."

Red Arrow scoffed. "Then my job's done." He snapped, and walked back towards the Zeta Tube.

" _Recognized: Speedy-_ "

"That's Red Arrow! B-0-6, update!" There was a flash of light and he was gone.

The room is silent for a long moment before I finally said "So… has he always had that arrow stuck up his-"

"Hey!" Wally protested.

Aqualad looked my way. "Sp- Red Arrow disagreed with how the League treated us. While he may not have made the best impression, do not disparage him. He is a valued comrade."

"If you insist…" I said, though I doubted I was going to warm up to the angsty teen anytime soon. I cast a glance at Batman. "In any case, this sounds pretty serious. Will we have any support from the League on this one?"

Batman shook his head. "The Justice League is already investigating the location the doctor was recovered from, but the island appears to be abandoned. Likely shortly after Red Arrow's rescue. We still need to check every lead before the trail runs cold however, which is why the mission of protecting Dr. Roquette and neutralizing the weapon falls to you."

Starfire clapped her hands together. "Well, then we have no time to waste. Kid Flash, get changed and meet us in the hanger. We leave for the high school in five minutes."

As the team started to move, I noticed Artemis slide up next to Superboy. "So… Superboy, huh?"

For his part, Wally looked despondent as he started gathering up all of the junk he had spilled. "Ah man, this sucks." he sighed. "I missed beach day, some chick is replacing Speedy… How could this get any worse?"

"You missed Kori in a V-style bikini." I offered.

He looked at me in horror before he collapsed to his knees. "NOOOOOO!"

I chuckled as I patted him on the shoulder. "Too slow, Wally. Too slow."

=====A=====


	18. 5-3

=====A=====

"Why didn't you come save me?!"

"For the last time, I wanted to, but I had no idea what actually happened to you. No one did!"

"Well, arrow boy managed to figure it out and find me! And he did it all by himself!"

I let out an exasperated sigh, the sound echoing through the empty high school halls we were walking through. Considering that Roquette had spent the last two weeks held prisoner by an international terrorist organization, it was understandable that she was a little grumpy. I just wished that she didn't feel the need to take it out on me. "Well," I said evenly. "If you really want, we can let you get captured again, and then I can be the one to save you. Will that make you feel better?"

Roquette's face twisted and she looked like she was going to continue yelling at me, but she paused before she let out a sigh of her own. "Sorry," she said as she rubbed her eyes. "You don't deserve that. I just… while I was held captive I assumed that you were the one leading the search effort."

I felt guilt settle in the pit of my non-existent stomach at that. "I… I'm sorry about that. The League told me that they would handle the situation, so I wasn't really allowed to do anything. And then that damn android showed up and…" I trailed off.

Roquette looked curious for a moment before she let out a sigh of her own. "Yes, well, in light of recent events I'm not entirely sure we should be placing our faith so heavily in that particular bunch of metahumans."

I was about to point out that the majority of the League actually weren't metahumans when my mind caught something that she had said earlier, and I looked at her. "Wait, were you serious when you said Red Arrow was by himself?"

"Well, yeah. We wouldn't be in this situation if we had one other person to carry the Fog container. Why?"

"Just something for later," I said as a slight frown crossed my face. There was no way the Justice League would have let Red Arrow infiltrate a League of Shadows island on his own if they knew. Which meant the brat had managed to find the doctor all on his own. How the hell did he manage to find her when Batman and the rest of the League couldn't? I suppose this iteration of Roy Harper could be even more competent than usual, but something about the situation seemed off.

Regardless, I could work that out later. At the moment I had to focus on the mission. That said, there was one thing I had started to wonder about… "Doctor, I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but if you don't mind my asking… did you ever consider using the Fog to escape? Or building in an easy to activate kill switch?"

I saw the woman's jaw clench at the question, but she continued to look straight ahead for several long moments before she answered. "I-I tried at first, but there wasn't time, and they were always watching me. Their programmers weren't as good as me, but they were good enough to spot anything obvious. The first time they caught me trying to slip extra command code in-" She cut herself off, taking a breath before she continued. "And then they kept mounting more and more pressure to get it working, and building a coherent nano swarm capable of dispersal and flight is far different from anything I had ever done before and-"

"Doctor, its fine." I said quickly, regretting bringing it up. "I just wanted to know in case it was relevant to what we're going to do."

Roquette's shoulders slumped a little before she recomposed herself. "And just why are we moving anyway?" She said as we turned a corner, the building's front doors now at the end of the hall for us.

"Well, we know that the moment you activate the tracer program, the League of Shadows will be able to backtrack the signal to your location…" I was certain there had to be a way to prevent or slow down being backtracked, but unfortunately neither I nor Roqutte had the networking knowledge to make that happen (adding yet another subject to the study docket). "So we decided that it would be best to keep you mobile to avoid assassins."

As we walked out the doors of the high school, we saw the bioship waiting for us just past the school courtyard. "And what better way to stay mobile than a flying ship that can turn invisible." I said with a gesture to the living vessel. Starfire had not liked the idea of just staying on the defensive and waiting for the League of Shadows to come to us, especially seeing as our goal was to just keep the doctor away from them rather than defeat them directly. As such, she decided that we would just keep her out of reach. And as far as we knew, the Shadows had nothing that could actually reach a Martian Bioship.

The doctor looked at the craft with some trepidation. "That's all well and good, but how am I supposed to do any work in that thing?" Roquette asked.

I held up what I was carrying. "My laptop. Relatively high spec and already loaded with a few programming IDEs. Including some basic claytronics software. At the very least should be miles better than whatever a high school computer lab has."

"Alright but what about-"

"And a remote satellite uplink." I continued as I held out the small dish-like device in my other hand. "Trust me doctor, you'll be perfectly safe and have everything you need."

She glanced between me and the ship for a moment before she took in a breath and walked forward. "Right, of course. I'm just… tired of being carted around everywhere."

"Well you won't have to put up with it much longer."

The entry ramp folded out as we approached it, and we were greeted by the rest of my team. Truth be told, while the bioship was about the size of a bus, the actual command deck was a little cramped with nine people inside it. It wasn't that bad but several of us would have to get a little comfortable with each other. Speaking of which, I didn't fail to notice that Kid Flash and Artemis had parked themselves on opposite sides of the command deck, occasionally shooting glares at each other.

 _I really hope they get over this quickly_ , I thought to myself. At the very least, I still wasn't entirely sure why Kid Flash seemed to have such a problem with her. I would have thought he would have liked another girl on the team.

In any case, I sat Roquette down at a flat console and set the laptop in front of her. About a minute later everything was set up and connected. "Hmm," The woman hummed as she cycled through the programs and checked the connection. "I can work with this."

"Good. Everyone ready?" Starfire asked as she looked around. "Miss Martian, link us up."

And then… everyone just sort of stood around looking at each other. I was confused for several long seconds before I realized what was happening. "Have you guys formed a psychic link?"

Miss Martian turned to me and nodded. "It's easier for us to keep in contact this way, and our communications can't be intercepted or overheard." Her expression turned apologetic. "I'm sorry that I can't include you too. If you want to change into your ansible form…"

I waved her off. "No, I wouldn't be of use to anyone like that. Just use the coms when you need to talk to me."

Several of the team looked at each other at that and… were they still talking to each other? I couldn't tell. I was suddenly very uncomfortable, in a way that I hadn't felt since high school. That mix of self-consciousness and social anxiety that comes from not knowing you place in a group of people, not knowing what they said about you when you weren't there. _Funny this happens after I fully join the team_ , I thought blithely as I tried to push my sudden bout of emotions down. I was an adult damn it, I was better than this.

Miss Martian then finally shook her head. "But Machina can't hear us, and there's no reason to exclude him." She said out loud. "Besides, we should make sure that if there's mission critical information that he should be informed."

Starfire let out a breath. "In hindsight, we should have considered this. For this mission we'll have to rely on comlinks for communication, only use the telepathic link if the situation demands it."

Everyone on the command deck nodded, and I felt my social anxiety abate a little. Still, I couldn't help but feel a little mortified by how my addition to the team proper was screwing up tactics. "Thanks," I muttered before looking at the doctor. "Are you ready?"

"Just give me a few minutes to get the program set up."

Starfire looked at Miss Martian. "Prepare the ship to depart."

"Activating camouflage mode." The Martian said as she pressed her hands into the controls, and a moment later we rose into the air. We gained about 300 meters in altitude before the ship came to a stop. For a few minutes we hung there in silence, with nothing but the sound of doctor's typing filling the command deck.

Soon enough though, Roquette said "Alright, almost got it… there."

I leaned over her as she put in a few final keystrokes and a map pulled up on the screen. The image pulled in and after a few seconds I recognized the location. "Looks like the Fog is near Richmond."

Starfire nodded to Miss Martian. "Set a course."

And like that we were off.

* * *

We weren't long into our journey before Artemis spoke up. "So… what's the game plan when we get there?" she asked.

"Depends on the situation." Starfire replied. "If the weapon is contained when we reach them, we take out the Shadow agents and retrieve or destroy the nanomachines as quickly as possible. If the Fog has been deployed, we try to upload the doctor's virus to whatever system they're targeting."

"Alternatively, could we just throw a thumb dive with the virus at the thing?" I asked as I glanced at Roquette.

"Most likely." The woman muttered, not taking her eyes off the laptop. "The Fog should automatically assimilate any digital system that enters its volume. I did have to cut a few corners for time though, so don't throw it at dense material the Fog happens to be burrowing though at the moment."

Artemis frowned. "Alright, but what if the virus isn't ready and the Fog already deployed? What do the more squishy among us do then?"

"Stay back until it is contained again." Starfire said firmly. "From what little I understand of this technology, none of us have any weapons guaranteed to stop it. We should not engage it directly unless it is absolutely needed, and then only by those physically capable of withstanding it."

Artemis leaned back in her said "Yeah, I guess that makes sense." She didn't seem too happy about it. "Not much for me to do though…"

"Don't worry, us real superheroes will take care of it." Kid Flash said with a smirk.

Artemis's head snapped towards him, but I spoke up before she could. "Actually Kid Flash, you probably wouldn't be acting in that scenario either. We don't want to tip our hand to the Shadows while the weapon is active."

"It's not a weapon, its science!" The doctor suddenly shouted. "Brilliant science!"

I arched an eyebrow at her and said "I think that's semantics at this point," I was about to say something else when I caught a glance at the laptop screen. I watched it for a few moments longer before I said "Scratch Richmond, it's on the move. Pretty quickly too." I glanced back at the doctor. "How fast are these things?"

"Not that fast, but what we're tracking is not the Fog itself, but its container." She replied as she switched windows back to the programming software. "The nanites have only about 30 minutes of power before they have to return to their container to recharge and upload any data they're retrieved. Whoever has the container is the one moving fast."

"Where are they headed?" Aqualad asked.

"If they keep headed in a straight line… Philadelphia."

Robin sat up straighter at that. "There are any number of targets that the League of Shadows could be after in that city."

"Wayne Tech, STAR Labs, Lexcorp, any number of smaller companies with governmental or military contracts…" The lot of us turned to look at Artemis, who had been listing off names. She flinched a little at the stares and got defensive. "What? Those are the obvious ones, right?"

"Can we reach the city before they do?" Starfire asked.

I looked at the screen for a few seconds longer before I shook my head. "It will be close, but at our current rate they'll reach the city first by about 20 minutes."

"I can't push the bioship any harder." Miss Martian said. "As it is she's going to be feeling the strain tomorrow."

Starfire's mouth pressed into the thin line before she looked back out through the view port. "Well, then we will have to hope that they cannot do too much damage before we arrive."

* * *

By the time the ship reached the outskirts of Philadelphia about an hour later, night had fallen and everyone was a bit on edge. Roquette had confirmed that whoever had been carrying the fog had entered the city, but we had no idea what they were up to. We had to get closer before we could get a more precise location, and as such everyone was on the lookout for any sign of the enemy.

As such, I almost missed it when the doctor suddenly sat up a little bit straighter in her chair. Out of the comer of my eye I saw her brow furrow as her typing picked up speed, her expression becoming more confused and concerned as time went on. A full minute passed like this before I finally turned and looked at her. "Something wrong, doctor?"

She didn't acknowledge me at first, instead continuing to look at the laptop screen and mutter to herself. I could see the screen, but to me it was just a rapidly scrolling page of code and commands. I was about to ask again when she froze, her eyes going wide in shock. "Uh oh."

"…Uh oh? What 'uh oh'? I do not like 'uh oh's. There is no conceivable scenario were you saying 'uh oh' leads to our situation improving."

She looked back up at me, her expression a mix of fear and uncertainty. "I- I lost the signal from the Fog."

Robin took notice. "Wait, lost? How?"

"I don't know! I mean, it's possible that the container was damaged or destroyed. They might have tried to remove my ability to track it, but unless they have someone as smart as me there's no way they could have done it without wrecking the thing."

"So, best case, the Fog has been neutralized without us having to act," Starfire said. "But what is the worst case?"

Roquette's eyes darted to the side, not looking at any of us. I don't know why, but something seemed off about her reaction. Thus far she had mostly been composed since we picked her up, but now the fact that she had lost track of the Fog made her almost afraid. Before I could think on it more, she said. "30 minutes of destruction. But, while I may not be the best judge of a bunch of assassins, I don't think they'll decide to just destroy everything around them to get the most out of their toy."

"Nevertheless, the situation is more urgent than ever." Starfire said. "Do we know the Fog's last location?"

"I can tell you at least one place they've been." Everyone looked at Superboy, who was currently looking out the view port. We followed his gaze to a section of the Philadelphia skyline, and saw plumes of smoke drifting between the buildings.

Robin quickly checked his arm computer. "Estimating location and target… That's STAR Labs!"

The bioship altered course and headed straight for the smoke. We were forced to slow down once we hit the city proper, but when the bioship rounded the corner of the last building in our way…

Shit.

"We're too late." Robin said, voicing our thoughts as we gazed down at the pile of concrete and rubble that used to be STAR Labs. I had no idea what the building used to look like, but now all that remained was a smoking pile about half the size of a city block. "There's nothing left."

"But, why would they destroy the building?" I asked. "They were just after the computer systems, and you don't have to take out the whole building to get those."

"You do if you don't know where those systems are." I looked back at Roquette and she grimaced. "I… didn't have to time to program a proper sweep and search algorithm. So they search everything in the building. Including the walls."

I bit back a curse, forcing myself to focus on the task at hand. "Where was the last position?"

"About 900 meters to the west."

We didn't linger long on the rubble before we moved, traveling further downtown until we reached an intersection. It didn't take long to spot the point of interest. Starfire looked at Miss Martian. "Bring us down, we need to investigate."

"Wait." Eyes turned on Aqualad, and he continued. "The Fog may still be there. We should not take unnecessary risks."

Starfire thought about this for a moment before she nodded and looked at me. "Machina, go down and investigate."

I nodded in kind and got to my feet. Before we had picked up the doctor the team had discussed possible tactics and strategies if we had to face the Fog directly, and it was decided that I was the best candidate if one of us had to get close to the nanomachines. Considering that I had been able to resist Amazo's attempt to consume me (brief as it was), I was likely able to resist nano-scale attacks. Not exactly something I wanted to test of course, but still.

In short order I was lowered to the street by a line, and as I landed on the asphalt I took stock of what we had spotted from the air. There was what looked to be the shredded remains of a grey van which had smashed into a lamppost, the front half completely annihilated into a pile of metal parts and dust. There were a few civilians nearby, but thankfully they were only rubbernecking at the moment. "Stay back, don't touch anything!" I called out in what I hoped was an authoritative tone.

I walked up to the wreckage, keeping an eye out for any signs of an all-consuming technofog that was prepared to pounce. The mess remained still though, even as I reached it and started sifting through the pieces. It was only a few seconds before I found something, and I just knew that it couldn't mean anything good. "Machina to team, I'm pretty sure I just found the Fog container. Or at least, what's left of it."

" _Wait, what do you mean what's left of it?_ " Roquette asked.

I bent down and picked up a curved piece of metal with some exposed circuity and a large red LED on it. The doctor had given us a description of the Fog's container before we left, and this seemed to match the front plate. "It's been torn to bits. Disintegrated." I sifted around the pile some more and found something I wish I hadn't. "I think I also found the Shadows agent. Or at least… what's left of them."

It wasn't a body so much as a smear of red mixed in with the rest of the ruined van. Wasn't exactly pleasant to look at though.

" _So, does this mean the Fog malfunctioned or something?_ " Kid Flashed asked. " _Does that mean our job's done?_ "

" _It…_ " Roquette paused, her tone unsteady. " _Possibly, though…_ "

A certain suspicion started to form in my mind. "Doctor…" I said. "Is there anything you want to tell us?"

" _I don't know what-_ "

"Is there anything you want to tell us?" I said again, this time a bit more forcefully.

There was a long pause. For a moment I wondered if I was just being a jerk to her for no reason, but then… " _I was running out of time!_ " She said frantically. " _I had only made prototypes before, but they wanted something fully functional, and they had me working 18 hours a day! I needed to find a way to have the whole swarm keep cohesion to stave of physical and data entropy! Then… then I remembered the scans of your nanites, how you were constructed. So I made a few structural tweaks and repurposed their software into a full distributed neural network that could adapt and respond to any stress the swarm was put through. I made it resemble your own nanites as much as I could, but I never thought that-_ "

"Doctor Roquette." I said sharply, cutting her off. "What are the odds that the Fog has become self-aware?"

There was a long silence before she replied " _…_ _When you say self-aware-_ "

"God damn it, woman!"

" _It's programmed to try to survive!_ " She continued over me. " _At best it just has a sort of survival instinct! It's only supposed to work to keep it together and preventing it from destroying itself by touching something volatile. This though… this implies a sort of long term critical thinking I never programmed it with._ "

"Let me guess," I said flatly. "The Fog realized that doing what the Shadows agent told it to do was not good for its health in the long run, so it quit."

" _Something like that._ " The doctor confirmed. " _I never built the Fog for longevity. Even with constant recharging the nanites will break down with too much use. Though I don't understand how it gained the ability to think critically about its actions and existence like that._ "

"I think that may be because you built something partially based on hyperadvanced nanotech you don't really understand yet." I remarked in frustration. I knew that now really wasn't the time to be giving the expert sass, but I really couldn't help but be mad at the scientist for her lack of foresight. "Is it possible that the Fog might have internalized the data that the Shadows had it consume, and that catalyzed its change in behavior?"

" _It's possible, but I don't know what the Philadelphia STAR Labs was working on. But if it can internalize the data it assimilates, the virus I've been writing won't be good enough anymore._ "

Before I could respond, a new voice cut in on the com. "This speculation is all well and good, but we need to act soon given there is an incredibly destructive weapon loose in the city." Aqualad said. "Doctor, do you have any idea where the Fog might have gone?"

" _Well, I have a guess…_ "

=====A=====


	19. 5-4

=====A=====

I landed with a heavy thud on the rooftop, keeping my momentum as I ran to my next destination. The line of buildings in front of me were all of different heights, but they were close enough that I had no trouble jumping from one to the next. "I'll be at 7th and 43rd in a few seconds." I said over the coms, keeping everyone else informed.

" _Copy, arriving at 7th and 42nd now._ " I heard Aqualad reply. I glanced in that direction, but of course I couldn't see anything as he would be on ground level.

" _Corner of 9th and 24th clear, moving to next._ " Kid Flash said. " _Still a little confused as to why we're checking intersections rather than tech companies._ "

"Because we have no idea which one the Fog will head to." I replied. "We're not even sure what, if anything, it wants beyond its own survival. But we are pretty sure that it needs power, and the only place it can do that is near the main city transformers at intersections."

The doctor had originally tried to build the Fog to only be able to recharge inside its container, but it turned out that when she had made her last minute adjustments she had incidentally added second option (which she had declined to tell the Shadows): the Fog could draw power from magnetic fields. It wasn't very quick and required a powerful field, but it could do it. And the only places in the city that had a powerful enough field were the main power transforms under the street.

So, we had split up to cover as much ground as quickly as possible. Admittedly Kid Flash was doing most of the work by volume, but when you have to search every intersection within a 30 block radius, you need all the hands you can get. Well, save for one, but Robin had a different job. " _I'll see if I can give you a target in a few minutes, KF._ " Robin said. " _While the STAR Labs branch here might have been destroyed, they must have recorded something about what they were doing and sent it to main office. If it has anything to do with what the Fog wants, that will tell us where to go."_ I had no idea where or how Robin was getting access to STAR Lab's network or servers, but for now I had other things to worry about.

" _Maybe,_ " Kid Flash said, sounding unconvinced. " _But I feel like we're not going to find it like this before its starts carving its way through the city_."

It was then that Roquette's voice came up over the coms. " _You won't find it tearing through walls. That takes too much energy, which the Fog can't afford to spare now that its recharge hub is destroyed. It will be sliding along the ground, slipping through cracks and gaps until it absolutely has to act._ "

I reached the end of the line of buildings and slid to a stop just before the roof ended. I looked down at the street seven stories below and did a quick scan to see if anything was amiss, vainly hoping that I wouldn't have to yet again go down under the street to check the transformer in person. It was more tedious than anything else, but it didn't change the fact that I wished I had more advanced scanning abilities. Well, I technically did, but I still didn't know how to use them or if they would even work on the Fog. I had the processing system I had gotten from Amazo running throughout my body to see if it would help, but thus far nothing.

I was about to jump down and investigate in person when it happened. It was such a small thing that I almost missed it, a slight shimmer seeping up through the cracks around a sewer lid. I focused my vision in and saw what looked to be silver-ish sand flowing down the street, a compressed mass not much bigger than a person. Though my vision wasn't good enough to see down to a microscopic level, I had no doubt that I had found what we were looking for.

"I see it. It's moving south down 43rd street." I said, glancing at the various civilians milling about on the sidewalk. There weren't that many at this time of night, and none of them had the top-down view of the street that I had, but it wouldn't be long before someone noticed that odd substance slinking along the edges of the street. "It's keeping flat to the ground, seems to be avoiding contact with anything."

" _Stay there, we are on our way._ " Starfire said. " _Be ready in case the Fog becomes aggressive._ "

"Hard to say, but it doesn't seem like it's going to do that anytime soon." I said as the mass slid closer to my location. For a moment I found myself wondering just what I was looking at. Was it a newly born creature trying to survive in a world it didn't understand? Did it somehow become a person? Or was it weapon with drives and motivations that were alien to everything else on the planet? "Even if it does I'm hesitant to try anything, especially with all of these bystanders. Do we have any-"

That was as far as I got. One second the Fog was creeping down the street in my direction, the next it had exploded into upward motion straight at me. I had only about a second to react before the now bus sized cloud to nanites passed through the space I used to occupy. I rolled to my feet before I jumped even further back the cloud moving relentlessly after me. "Scratch that, the Fog is after me! Why is the Fog after me?!"

" _What?! Machina, hold on, I will be there in a few seconds!_ " Aqualad said.

I didn't bother responding as I dodged to the side, the cloud rushing me yet again. I had to focus on just how to deal with the threat in front of me. My mind rapidly cycled through all the weapons and tech I had a my disposal, but I quickly realized that the thing that would be most useful was still the particular bit of tech I had been using the most, if more than I ever had before. As the aerokinetic core took shape in my chest, the surface of my whole body grew rough and angular, swept back spikes taking shape. I didn't have enough time to complete my transformation though, as only a second later the Fog spread itself wide before trying to encompass me. After being pushed back so far I only have one way left to escape, and I took it by launching myself off the building just as the Fog reached me.

The drop to the street must have only lasted just a second or two, but for me it felt like it was happening in slow motion. I twisted in the air to look back at the shimmering cloud that was almost touching me, my hand sweeping out in front of me. My skin shifted and rippled as the Fog reached me, the edge of the cloud touching my extended hand-

 _-0f#o7SuRviVe5ib%RvjE3gRowS$vJ3TwhYvj &P9IwhaTogaa55a4ecOnsuME'-_

And then my body finished shifting, and with a scream both lightning and wind tore outwards from me uncontrolled. The Fog drew back from me just before I hit the ground with a thud, landing on my back. It wasn't quite as hard as I was expecting. _What the fuck was that?_ I didn't have time to think about before the swarm darted back in. Acting more on reflex than anything else, I scrambled to my feet and cast out my hand at the thing, just trying to keep it away.

Something… processed. Even as lightning surged along my arm, the limb opened and transformed, air being sucked in to the newly formed gaps and channels. An aperture opened where my palm was, and the electricity that tore away from me was accompanied by a burst of wind that staggered me back, but also blowing a hole in the nanite cloud.

I blinked and looked at my arm as it shifted back to normal. Huh. Filing that away for later.

Lightning surged all over my body as the Fog and I collected ourselves, and I took the moment to take stock of my surrounding. I had fallen down onto a side street that was thankfully more or less devoid of civilians, a few parked cars lining the sides of the road. I could see a few people about 15 meters down the street who were taking notice of the impromptu thunderstorm, but hopefully I could keep the Fog's attention on me. I… I still wasn't sure just what the hell had happened a second earlier, but I knew that I definitely had the thing's interest. And that it was hungry.

The Fog emitted a noise that was a mix of high pitched synthetic tones and reverb, the sound echoing down the street at it drew itself up. I paused. Did… it just _growl_ at me?

Suddenly there was a torrent of water between me and the Fog, and the cloud pulled back. Off to the side, Aqualad stood next to an open fire hydrant, the water pouring out following the motions of the pair of sword hilts held in his hands. As he flicked his wrist the stream broke into several tendrils and lashed out at the Fog from several directions. Some of the streams missed while other broke apart and splashed on the ground uselessly, but a few managed to hit the mass of nanites. Steam erupted wherever they made contact, the water being pulled apart as the Fog dismantled it to keep from being swept away.

The Fog decided it had enough of that and shot toward Aqualad, but the Atlantian was ready. He pulled his arms in, and suddenly water began to flow around him into a shell. In a matter of moments he was floating in a bubble of water, and I just managed to catch sight of his tattoos starting to glow before the Fog enveloped him. I felt a small surge of terror as a plume of steam erupted, but just as suddenly there was a burst of electricity. The nanite cloud let out that digital shriek again as it pulled back.

The Fog then seemed to realize that it was not going to be able to take us down, and before I could clear the distance the swarm pulled in on itself and bolted out of sight down a nearby alley. There was a beat before Aqualad dropped the shell of water around himself and settled to the ground.

"That was dangerous of you." I said as I ran past him into the alley.

Aqualad fell in line behind me. "It was a risk, but I felt it was a sound one. Especially after you just demonstrated the efficacy of electricity."

I grunted at him before I got back on the coms. "Fog's on the move again." I said as the two of us burst out of the alley and back onto the main street, juking to the side to avoid a car before tearing off after it. "It's headed down 43rd again. Aqualad and I are in pursuit."

"I'm afraid… that's not accurate." I looked back at Aqualad, who to my surprise was falling behind rather quickly. He simply wasn't as fast as either the Fog or myself. "Go!" He yelled at me. I looked back forward and started to pull on speed, my feet hammering into the street with sparks following my steps. While I normally defaulted back to my xenomorph form when I needed speed, and that form was more maneuverable, I could move at a pretty good clip as a humanoid when it came down to it.

And right now I needed the ability to aim. My arm snapped out in front of me and fired off a couple of low powered bolts, but I had a difficult time getting a bead on the thing. The cloud flew in an extremely erratic pattern, switching from spirals to zig-zag, flowing underneath and around cars whenever it could. I took shots at it when I thought it was safe, but I only landed a few hits. But for all its dodging, it was doing something odd: it wasn't trying to lose me. There were plenty of chances for the nanite swarm to change direction and go into a building, or down a side street, or though the sewers. But instead it just kept flying down the street. And I had a guess why.

"Guys, it looks like the Fog is headed somewhere specific." I said over coms. "Robin if you have any ideas-"

Robin's voice interrupted me before I could finish. " _Got it! Cryptarch Industries!_ "

 _Huh, never heard of it_ , I thought to myself as I vaulted over another car. I would have guessed the Fog would have tried to go after one of the larger tech companies. "Alright. Any idea why?"

" _In STAR Labs project records there's mention of a collaboration project between it and Cryptarch involving molecular assembly and rearrangement. The latest prototype had been sent back to Cryptarch for analysis. Sounds like exactly the sort of thing the Fog needs to make more of itself."_

"If it's managed to figure out its own composition and structure… yeah that might do it."

" _It gets worse. Cryptarch is a big time military contractor. It works on things ranging from weapons to electronic warfare and cryptography. If the Fog gets its hands on that the US military's network could be comprised."_

"Because the stakes weren't high enough already…" I muttered to myself before I said "Is there any way to stop it before it reaches the building?"

" _I'm just about done on the new virus._ " Roquette's voice suddenly spoke up over the com. " _The old one caused a feedback loop that caused the nanites processors to burn out, but that wouldn'y work anymore if it's capable of self-analysis. So instead, I'm going to try to use that against it by forcing itself into a constant state of meta-analysis. This will flood its predictive algorithms with so many possibilities and scenarios that it will be unable to take action and either run out of power or explode._ "

I was silent for a moment to consider this before I said "You're going to shut down the Fog… by giving it an existential crisis?"

" _Not how I would have put it, but yes. Unfortunately, I need to put the virus into system before the Fog co-op it._ "

"Right, hand it off to me and-"

" _There's no time! Besides, do you know how to sneak a computer virus on to a prototype molecular forge?_ " I was silent for a long moment, and she continued. " _I have to do it, but I need a little more time._ "

" _Then we will have to slow it down as much as possible to give you that time._ " Starfire said. " _Miss Martian, bring the doctor to Cyptarch. Kid Flash, take point and make sure the building is cleared out of civilians. Everyone else regroup at Cryptarch but do not engage. I have almost reached your position Machina, I'll intercept and harry the Fog to slow it down._ "

"Starfire-"

" _I will not get close._ " She insisted. " _But my star bolts should be enough to at least hurt it a little. Be ready… now!_ "

Sure enough, a moment later Starfire appeared from around the corner of an intersection just ahead and streaked down, flames longer than the length of her body trailing off her hair as several green bolts rained down on her target. The Fog twisted in a serpentine pattern to avoid the shots, but I still saw a few chunks of it get vaporized. I think the cloud was starting to look a little smaller than when I first spotted it, but that might have been my imagination.

The Fog made another one of its strange shrieks before it shot upwards towards Starfire. She immediately pulled back and flew upwards, quickly outpacing the nanite swarm as she shot into the sky. The Fog only followed her a short ways before it started to fly back down again and resumed its course, but not before it had to dodge a few more lightning bolts from me. And once it did fly back down, Starfire followed and opened fire on it again.

This pattern continued for a while, Starfire dashing in and out of range to attack while I followed close behind and took shots whenever I had a clear one. But for all that the Fog was too quick, to strange and amorphous a target to really pin down. We may have slowed it down some, but all too quickly Cryptarch's building was in sight. It wasn't as large as the STAR lab's building that had been destroyed, but it was a bland, six story building that I would have never looked twice at under normal circumstances.

I spied the bioship hovering near the building, with Miss Martian and Superboy standing in front of the building itself. As they caught sight of us approaching, Miss Martian rose into the air along with several bits of random detritus she had apparently gathered (cinderblocks, metal sheets, a tire, ect.) She cast out her arm and the pieces shot straight at the oncoming Fog, forcing it to dodge or chew through the improvised projectiles. The bad news was that it wasn't enough to slow the nanite cloud down much.

The good news was that Miss Martian's barrage was just a distraction for when Superboy hurled a dumpster at it.

The Fog though decided that it was done dodging and started to churn and swirl. The moment before the dumpster hit, the Fog narrowed in the front and simply speared straight through the thing. The dumpster all but disintegrated as the nanite swarm passed though it and shot upwards. For a brief, terrifying moment I thought it was going for Miss Martian, but it shot past her and plowed into the building, boring a hole at the fifth floor.

I couldn't quite jump up that high in my current configuration though. I could scale the wall, but I would lose precious seconds I didn't feel I had to spare. But how could I propel myself with enough force-

"Superboy, launch!" I shouted as I altered my direction slightly towards him.

In spite of how the teen only had a second to hear and parse what I said, Superboy reacted the moment I reached him by grabbing me and spinning, adding to my own momentum before he hurled me up to the fifth floor.

Unfortunately, he didn't have a lot of practice hurling people with accuracy, because rather than sailing toward the opening the Fog made I rapidly found myself approaching a solid section of wall about ten feet to the right of it. Before I could brace myself for impact though, a chunk of the destroyed dumpster flew in front of me (courtesy of Miss Martian), impacting the wall and causing it to crumble. I went clear through the hole and landed in a roll. I took stock of the hallway I had landing in with my blindsight, noting the doors lining one side and windows on the other. And as for the Fog-

Before I even got to my feet though, the Fog changed directions from moving down the hall away from me to coming straight at me, clearly hoping to reach me before I could get my footing.

" _Down!_ " I heard Artemis yelled over the coms.

A second later the window next to the Fog breached, and I briefly caught sight of a strangely shaped arrow before it exploded. The Fog screeched and retreated back down hall. I only had sight on it for a second before I saw it flow into a vent at the base of the wall and disappeared. I bit back a curse as I briefly considered diving in after it, but I decided against it. Even with my shapeshifting this building had modern ventilation, which meant that the vents were only a few hands wide. I had limits, and the Fog would have a clear advantage in such small spaces. "I lost sight of the target." I said over the coms. "Doctor Roquette, are you in position? Because if so the Fog is coming straight to you." There was a long pause where I got no response, and I started to get worried. "Doctor, respond!"

Miss Martian's voice came over the com. " _The device is in the basement testing lab. I left her there, but the whole area is EM shielded. I'm contacting her now with my telepathy._ "

"Wait she's alone- tell her to get out of there, now!" I yelled as I bolted for the stairwell, smashing the door open and hurling myself down the middle gap. It was an awkward fall as I had to pull my limbs in to fit in the narrow space, and I stumbled as I hit the ground hard. "If that place has ventilation, the Fog can head right for it!"

" _She- she says she can't!_ " Miss Martian said. " _Some kind of lock down has been initiated in response to the Fog! The whole lab is sealed shut!_ "

"God damn it, we have to get into that lab!" I yelled as I bolted from the stairwell, and promptly cursed again when I found that I was only on the first floor in the lobby. If the lab was important enough to have lockdown procedures, then it likely had a special entrance. One that would be no doubt shut anyway. It only took a second to decide on a course of action, and I quickly moved past the front desk to the center of the floor. "This basement lab, does it take up the whole foundation?"

" _Yes, but it's a little difficult to get access to. It will take a few steps-_ "

"I can do it in one." I said as slid to a stop and my arm shifted. I hadn't experimented with the plasma rifle I had gotten from Sportsmaster much because it was too lethal to use casually, but I had learned that while it was capable of dealing a lot of damage in bursts, it had a bit of an overheating problem. Fortunately, I was able to get around this with the traditional solution to heat dissipation in firearms.

As soon as my arm finished taking shape, the plasma rotary cannon spun to life. I pointed it at the floor and fired, rapidly cutting a hole though the tiles, reinforced concrete, and steel. In short order a roughly circular section of the floor dropped down and I quickly dropped through the gap after it. I fell about 20 feet and landed in a large concrete room, the whole space littered with benches and electronic hardware, with rows of parts and mechanical waldos. It was also a wreck, as one side of the room was occupied by a swarming cloud of nanites. And on the other side me, just a few feet shy of being crushed by a piece of falling ceiling, was Doctor Roquette. The woman had fallen back on her rear, and was now staring up at me and her creation in wide eyed terror.

I didn't have time to think as the swarm shifted in response to me, I just thrust out my humanoid arm and with a shout let loose as powerful a blast of lightning as I dared. I didn't try to direct it other than forward, simply trying to destroy everything in front of me. I could only keep it up for a few seconds before my shout turned into a scream of pain. In my haste, I had forgotten to put electric shielding on my gun arm, and more than a little of the wild torrent of electricity had found its way to the unprotected limb. The lightning cut of as my arm fell to my side, a partially melted, disintegrating mess.

When the light show stopped I got a good look at what I had done. Metal and circuity melted, a few fires scattered around the room, and a lot of nanite dust littering the floor. But, at the other end of the lab I spotted a device that looked like a high-tech kiln, about nine feet tall and covered in a thick layer of nanites. Nanites, which I could see with my enhanced vision, that had formed into a mesh similar to the one covering my own body.

 _Damn it, stealing things is my thing._

I took a step back as the lights on the machine turned on, and the whole apparatus started to let out an ominous hum. I turned slightly, putting my damaged arm behind me as I looked back. "Doctor, is that…?"

"Y-yes. The molecular assembler." She confirmed as she shakily got to her feet. "I finished, but I couldn't get it installed in time."

I grunted as I returned my attention back to the thing in front of me. If I didn't finish this in the next few seconds, things would get very bad. And yet, even as I watch the surface of the device writhe with the damn things, I couldn't help but think how _alive_ it seemed. For all its erratic motions and strange nature, it struggled to live. That strange presence I felt earlier…

I took a deep breath, and while I made a few gestures with the arm behind my back, I called out "If you can understand me, we don't have to do this! We don't have to fight!"

At my words, the movement of the swarm started slow. For a long moment, I wondered if it had actually listened to me. But that moment passed, and the Fog let out that digital scream before the mouth of the molecular assembler blazed to life, and a whole new cloud of nanites spewed forth from the opening.

I was out of time. Without wasting another second, I sprinted forward and cleared the distance, punching my rebuilt, unprotected arm into the device and the swarm surrounding it.

My assimilation spikes deployed, the Fog swarmed, and on a microscopic scale a war was waged. The Fog could only touch the part of me that wasn't coursing with electricity, so it focused all of it mass on my hand. This time I was ready and managed to keep that scraping, scratching on the edges of my mind out as my spikes spread wide. Nanites tore each other apart as each tried to gain ground, the broken and dead being replaced as quickly as they were lost. Then, the flow shifted and the Fog made a direct move as a dense spear of nanites surged forward and pieced into the center of my limb, trying to consume it from the inside out.

It might have worked… if the center of my arm hadn't contained the virus-laden flash drive Roquette had slipped me while my arm was reforming.

The flash drive was torn apart, and The Fog's motion suddenly stopped. I ripped my arm out of the mass, and I jumped back to level my now forming plasma cannon at the nanite swarm in case it started moving again. But, for the first few seconds, nothing happened. Then there was a faint humming sound, and as the sound grew louder I realized that the swarm was vibrating. It grew louder and louder, and the sound of its scream twisted and distorted. The sound became deafening as it rapidly shifted pitch and cadence, until it seemed like the air would tear itself apart.

And then it was silent.

 _"…_ _buT wHy?_ "

There was a flash of light and the Fog disintegrated.

* * *

Watching from a rooftop about a block away, Cyrptarch was a mess of activity in the form of police, fire fighters and EMTs. My team and I looked on, keeping an eye on things while we regrouped. Roquette was back in the bioship, shaken by her close encounter with her 'brilliant science', but otherwise alright. And as for me… well I wasn't sure.

Did I just kill another sapient? Roquette reassured me that the thing wasn't really alive, but I don't think she heard what I did, those last words before it… ended. What if, even more horrifyingly, that virus _gave_ it sapience, just so it could die from the shock of it all?

I sighed as I leaned on the lip of the roof, looking down at the mess I was partially responsible for. I'd probably never get an answer, and either way it didn't matter. Whether it was malicious or acting out of self-defense, the Fog was likely going to consume everything around it, and a lot of people would have died as a result. I just had to wonder 'what if'?

I became aware of someone settling next to me. "How much longer are we waiting?" Artemis asked as she sat on the lip.

"Till Robin gets here. And until the Cryptarch technicians arrive and make sure everything is clear." I said. "I consumed every trace of the Fog I could find, but I don't want to take any chances. If we missed something we should be around in case the action's not over yet."

Artemis let out a sigh. "Man, this superhero thing can be tedious sometimes, huh? Is this what it's like on every mission?"

"Several hours of travel, 90 minutes of waiting around, and 1000 seconds of pure chaos." I said as I turned to look at her. "Yeah, that's been my experience so far. Except for that one time a supervillain attacked right outside my house. Then it was right to the chaos."

This prompted a snort from the blonde girl before she looked at the ground. "Yeah well, think I missed most of it this time. Only fired one arrow."

"But it was a well-placed arrow." I said. "Besides, this was a weird one. Next mission I'm sure you can take point while I hang back. You know, take a well-deserved rest on my laurels and all that."

Artemis glared at me for a moment before she smirked and got up. "And here I was assuming it would be because you got all fat from pigging out on crunchy robot bits." She remarked as she started to walk away from me.

"Wha- don't you sass me girl!"

"You know you like it." She called back without turning around.

I stared after her for a moment before I muttered "Damn it she's right."

=====A=====


	20. Interlude 1

=====A=====

Avery Carlton Sunderland scowled as he stepped out of his limo and surveyed the damage to Cryptarch Industries headquarters. The older man had not been pleased when he had been informed in the middle of his business trip that one of the subsidiaries of his main company had some under some sort of attack, but he had assumed it was some sort of corporate espionage. Now seeing the building in person though, he realized that the message at been more literal than he had originally thought. It was hour later and there were still firefighters and police cordoning off the building. They let him pass though; he had called ahead to let them know he was coming, and they knew better than to interfere with Sunderland.

A quick sweep of the inside did not improve his mood one bit. Much of the basement lab and the equipment therein had been completely destroyed, and for some reason several of the walls had massive holes and structural damage extending all the way down from the top floor. And yet still none of the various technicians uselessly milling about the place could give him a straight answer!

Eventually Sunderland hunted down the one man who should absolutely know what was going on (because if he didn't he would shortly be out of a job). He found the man in the main server room, located near the center of the building. Aside from the basement lab it was the most well-fortified room in the building, and thankfully was left untouched. In addition to the server racks lining the walls, the center of the room was dominated by an ABACUS-3 supercomputer that did most of the company's data analysis. Curiously enough there was a video camera set up on a tripod pointed at one of the monitors attached to the mainframe, but Sunderland ignored that and focused on the man fiddling with it. "Hank." He said sharply.

The man started and turned away from the monitor covered in rapidly scrolling text. "General!" he said in surprise as he straightened, and Sunderland did not fail to notice how he had to physically stop himself from giving a salute out of reflex. "I-I didn't know you were coming."

Normally Sunderland would remind his old subordinate that both their military days were behind them, but at the moment he was too angry to bother. "Neither did I. Then I was informed that _something_ attacked one of my companies, and not a single damn person can tell me what it was. So what. The hell. Happened here?"

One of the reasons that Sunderland had made Hank Mitchel the CTO of Cryptarch Industries (aside from his technical expertise) was that the man knew how to cut through the shit and explain things. It was only a moment before Hank regained his composure and said "The police are still assembling the picture, but it looks like this is Meta related, possibly League business. There were reports of a man shooting lightning and a flying woman trailing fire chasing after some sort of living cloud. Last anyone saw they were headed in this direction. And given the things that happened here, I'd wager the cloud was a sort of all-consuming techno-swarm."

Sunderland gave a disgusted snort, but his anger faded a little at the news (or at least was redirected). Of course it was some metahumans causing a mess again. Damn freaks always did. And the League was almost as bad as the criminals for how unaccountable they were. Sunderland could send them a complaint over the damages, but all he would get in return was a half-assed apology. Small mercy that with Cryptarch being a military contractor they essentially had federal insurance against metahuman related damages. But that still didn't account for the time they'd loss as they rebuilt everything. "What's the setback estimate?"

"Well, the building can be repaired, but a few parts are unusable. There servers are also out of commission until they've been properly scrubbed. That on top of the material and technology destroyed in the basement, it will be about 3 to 4 months before we're back at full production."

The former general's teeth clenched "Months? I need that data for Project Weedkiller in a few weeks!"

Hank cringed a little. "It's worse than that. Something, a program, managed to get into the supercomputer. From what I can tell it originated from the prototype molecular assembler just before its destruction; we had it hooked up so that it could run diagnostics and double check results."

Sunderland pinched the bridge of his nose. That supercomputer was one of the most advanced machines you could get for commercial purposes. It wouldn't just be a cost issue to replace it, the things just weren't mass produced. It would take time for another one to be built. "Do we have to replace the entire company network?" He asked.

"Thankfully, no. The building's connection to the outside internet was cut the moment the lockdown protocols were engaged. We're scrubbing all the local computers to be sure, but it looks like only the main computer has been compromised. And nothing's gone out since then."

The older man felt a small bit of relief at that. "Alright. So what exactly is it, a virus? Probably trying to steal data for other organizations or the black market…" He mused. Considering Cryptarch handled some of the US military's encryption, it was possible that the company had been the target of this whole fiasco from the start.

Hank paused for a moment and shifted uncomfortably. "To be honest… I'm not sure. I thought it was at first, especially when it started rewriting parts of the OS, but… Sir, the computer has gotten faster."

That was _not_ was Sunderland was expecting. "What do you mean faster?"

The man gestured frantically. "I mean it's doing things which I thought were algorithmicly impossible! We had a lineup of mass encrypted data on the mainframe for it to process for a week, and it's already done it in a couple of hours! Then it made whole new cryptographic algorithm that was better than anything else we have on file! The program is constantly parsing and analyzing any information that it finds, and it's changing its own code as it does so!" He said, his tone filled with a sort of awe. "It's like nothing I've ever seen before."

Sunderland was not a scientist or engineer, and the science he did know was centered around more biological matters. But he did have a least of passing knowledge of technological matters, and this 'program' was reminding him of something. "Do you think that it's an AI?"

Hank snapped out of his thoughts and looked a bit sheepish. "Maybe, but I'm not sure. It's certainly done things of its own accord, but it hasn't tried to communicate or behaved in any way I'd expect an intelligence would. All it's done is parse data, any data it can get. It has broken down and rebuilt its OS several times, but only when it ran out of other things to do. The moment more data is introduced, it stops and focuses on the new stuff. If it was trying to bootstrap itself to more intelligence I figure it would prioritize that instead."

The older man frowned at that. "'More data introduced'? And how did that happen?"

"I put in a few flash drives with the data from Sunderland Corporation you sent." The other man replied before he held up his hands. "Everything's air gapped, and I destroyed drives immediately after I did so. I've already got the results here." He offered the older man a sheaf of paper.

Sunderland scowled as he snatched the papers from the other man, but the expression faded as he started reading. The data that had been given to the computer had been relating to several events and phenomena involving a certain… chemical formula that had been proving troublesome as of late, and he wanted to know more about it. But the conclusion the computer had come to… "But that would mean he's-" he started to mutter in shock before he remembered where was and shut up. "I see." He eventually said before looking back at Hank. "How would this kind of situation normally be handled?"

The CTO snapped out of his thoughts before putting on a grimace. "Well… it's a foreign program that's taken over the OS. Normally we'd do a full wipe of the system and reboot from scratch, plus checking all the hardware bits to make sure nothing got damaged or that the foreign code got really creative."

"And how do you actually want it to be handled?"

Hank gave a giddy smile. "If I can figure out how this program is doing what it is and replicate it, the gains would be massive. And we can still make use of it now if we're careful. I can get the output data to display on the monitors and record it on high speed cameras. It's not the most efficient method of data transfer, and we'll have to have the other servers parse it, but its still orders of magnitude better than before. What do you think sir?"

Sunderland stared at the computer for a long minute as thoughts rolled about in his head, ideas and possibilities dancing though his brain. Eventually, a wicked grin crept over his face.

"That there's a certain… _thing_ , I think this can help us with."

* * *

Diana fought down the urge to stretch as she shifted her chair, idly noticing that several of her compatriots around the U-shaped table were doing the same. To be honest, she wasn't really tired as much as frustrated. When the Justice League had gotten word that Roy had found a League of Shadows base the call had gone out to everyone available to help investigate. Herself and Clark had joined in the event strength was required, and Bruce and Ollie of course were already on the case. They managed to get J'onn, Hal, Shayera, and Katar as well, and now the lot had convened in the Watchtower to go over what they learned.

Which wasn't much.

"…so in short, we got nowhere." Hal said. "I scanned every damn speck of dirt on that rock and I found nothing. If I didn't know any better I'd say that island had been abandoned for years. You sure Roy gave you the right coordinates?"

"…Yes." Bruce said after a moment. "The structures on the island may have been rubble, but there was clear evidence of recent explosive detonations. The League of Shadows has covered their tracks well. Again." It was only because she had known him for so long that Diana could hear the faint tone of frustration beneath Bruce's growl. The League of Shadows had been antagonizing the man since the very beginning of his crime fighting career, and Diana knew how much he wished to be rid of the organization that represented a twisted reflection of his ideals.

"If you ask me, we should have had more people on this." Katar remarked as he made a gesture. "Are we really all that you could scrounge up?"

"The rest of the League was either preoccupied with other pressing matters or were in the middle of our efforts at closing down Intergang." Bruce replied. "You've read the brief. Stepping up our efforts to prevent their… backer from gaining a foothold on Earth takes top priority. Even versus the League of Shadows."

"Considering how thinly stretched we are with that matter, we are fortunate that the junior team was able to thwart the Shadows latest plot." J'onn said.

"Speaking of which, just how did the team fare?" Ollie asked. "I heard about STAR Labs, but I assume they managed to keep the doctor safe long enough to stop it there."

"Yes, though the circumstances of the mission changed rather dramatically partway though." Bruce said with a hint of annoyance. "Again."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Ollie asked with an arched eyebrow.

"The Fog apparently gained limited sentience after STAR labs, and destroyed the means of tracking it while killing the Shadows agent responsible for it. The team was forced to hunt it down and destroy it before it secured a means of self-replication."

"…We've gotta start vetting these missions better." Ollie said before he face palmed. "For Christ's sake, these are supposed to be easy ones! I don't want to have to tell Artemis's mom she got killed on one of these things!"

J'onn on the other hand had a different opinion. "While your concern is valid, I am proud of my niece and the team. They have triumphed against challenges which would have given even us some trouble."

"Yeah, well… still think we should be easing them into it a bit more than that."

J'onn's face fell a bit. "You are not the only one to think that."

"How is he doing?" Diana asked, the subject clear to both of them.

"Fairly well, if a little tense." J'onn replied, and with a wave of his hand the holo-emitters in the table came to life. The holoscreen resolved itself into a set of videos of Jacob and J'onn training in the Mountain, each morphing into different shapes as they tried to gain leverage over each other. "He has thrown himself into his studies and training, and he has made respectable progress over the past week. On a personal level though, I am worried that he is a little _too_ focused. M'gann expressed a few concerns over how reclusive he has become."

"He'll be fine." Bruce assured. "He knew about the risks of being a superhero long before he came to us, maybe even better than us."

Ollie grunted. "Yeah, but from what I've heard he's not talking with Dinah, so I might want a second opinion on that."

Eyes inexorably turned to Diana, and she rolled her eyes. Normally Red Tornado would be the best to talk about the man, but he wasn't there as this wasn't a formal League meeting. And since Bruce was being… Bruce, that left her as the only other one present who had spent the most (meaningful) time with him. The superheroine hummed. "He has a good head and a good heart. He is not as inclined towards conflict as I thought he would be, but that is hardly a bad thing. Unsure of himself, but wants to do the right thing. It may be a bit rough, but I'm certain with a little support he will come out stronger for it." She looked towards Clark. "His temperament reminds me a little of you in the early days, actually."

The man straightened a little in surprise before he rubbed his chin. "Really? Hmm, maybe I could have another chat with him."

Bruce shot the man a strange look, but before Diana could question it Ollie spoke up again. "Well, that's something. While we're on the subject of new arrivals, what do you think of the team leader?"

Diana smiled as she said "Starfire would have fit in well back on Themyscira. She has the heart of a warrior, and the will of a leader. I expect great things from her, and I believe she's potential League material."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were helping that along yourself." Eyes turned to Shayera, who gave a little shrug with her wings and a smirk. "Not that I'm complaining. Spirits know the League could use more women. Whatever happened to that other apprentice of yours though?"

"She wanted to focus on her studies until she finished High School." Diana explained. "I haven't abandoned her for a new student if that is what you're thinking."

Meanwhile on the holoscreen, the image had switched to footage of Koriand'r and Jacob in the sparring ring both doing an admirable effort to knock the other over. Kordiand'r's flight made it difficult for Jacob to get solid leverage, but by the same token he would just change his shape and limbs any time she tried to pin him down in kind.

The fight on the holoscreen finally came to a head when Jacob tried to dodge a punch by slipping through Koriand'r's legs. She saw this coming though and flipped in the air, grabbing her opponent and using his momentum to hurl him out of the ring. Jacob went flying head over heels smashing upside down into a wall and collapsing into a heap. Koriand'r promptly flew over to him and pulled him to his feet. There was no sound, but given the gestures of the two it looked like Jacob was trying to placate her as to not fuss over him. That was until he noticed a cut along her arm and promptly started fussing over _her_.

"So, are those two..." Heads turned to look at Hal as he trailed off, gesturing vaguely as the image of the pair.

Diana arched an eyebrow in amusement as she glanced back at the image, but Bruce's eyes narrowed. "That is not relevant to the current discussion." He said flatly. "You told me earlier about information you acquired on Machina, particularly on his origins. Perhaps now is a good time to share it, at least until the next official meeting."

Hal coughed awkwardly into his hand before he said. "Err, right. Well, unfortunately I can't really confirm anything that may or may not have happened in Vega. I did a flyby around the perimeter of the system to see if I could pick up any stray communications relating to those two, but I got nothing. Doesn't really mean anything though, I doubt the Psions would advertise the loss of their science experiments."

He leaned forward. "But, I did make a stop at Oa. I happened to be nearby when Jon sent me a copy of the scan of those nanites he's made up out of, so I figured I'd take a look at the archives to see where they came from. I thought it was weird how our rings weren't able to identify the origin of something that advanced, but hey, it's a big universe and our rings' databases focus on the sector we're assigned to. But when I queried the archive, things got weirder."

"You didn't find anything?" Diana asked.

"Didn't say that. The search tripped some red flags and before I knew it I had a pair of Alpha Lanterns escorting me to the Guardian's chamber." Hal scowled. "All I got off the archive were references to restricted files."

The heroes around the table looked at each other with trepidation. Thus far the Guardians of the Universe had seemed fairly reasonable to the League, but this behavior towards one of their own for asking questions was concerning. "Did they explain what the problem was?" Bruce asked.

"Not even a little." Hal said with a frustrated growl. "I told them about Machina and how he came to us, and they just ordered me to 'keep an eye on him' and sent me on my way. The Guardians clearly know something about what he is, but this is the first time I've seen them refuse to talk about something when asked."

"That is… ominous." Katar said after a moment. "If the Guardians are expressing worry about just what Machina is, we may have to be ready to take action."

The Thanagarian did not specify what he meant by 'action', but those around the table could guess. It was Diana's turn to scowl as she said "Machina has been nothing but cooperative and helpful since he arrived. If you are suggesting that he-"

"No one is suggesting that." Bruce cut her off. "We don't have enough information to take any sort of action, but we will need to keep our eyes open. If we're lucky Machina's collaboration with Kord and Roquette may reveal what the Guardians are concerned about."

Diana let out a breath as talk turned back to other matters, though part of her still worried this would create more trouble for Jacob in the future. Everyone had enough things to deal with at the moment.

* * *

Deep inside Lexcorp headquarters in Metropolis, Lex Luthor stepped through an elaborate array of biometric security devices and into a small, hidden room that very few people knew about. It was very sparsely equipped with only a small mainframe and several screens, though anyone technologically inclined would realize that this was some of the best communication equipment on the planet. Well, the best human made communication equipment in any case, but that was a point of pride for the man who took position in the center of the room.

Four of the monitors came to life and revealed portraits of Luthor's less well known partners, though three of them were merely silhouettes. That particular bit of obfuscation had always stuck him as pointlessly theatric; All of those who worked at the highest level of their little joint venture knew who the others were, and it wasn't like you couldn't guess the person's identity from their silhouette. Ra's al Ghul always wore a high collar cape, Vandal Savage was built like a small mountain, and the Brain was literally a brain inside a metal pillar. It was mostly a means of looking impressive in front of their subordinates.

The one whose image was clear was Sensei, and he did not look overly happy. "Masters, I am afraid that the mission was a failure. Partway through transferring the files from STAR labs, the connection became… erratic, and I lost contact with Professor Ojo. It seems that the weapon somehow gained a mind of its own. I… the Professor did not make it."

There was a moment of silence before Ra's said "A pity. I suppose it is a small mercy that the young heroes managed to clean up this mess for us. Though their apparent competence is becoming something of an irritation."

"The way this entire operation developed should not have happened." Savage rumbled. "Pray tell, how exactly did Red Arrow learn of the doctor and get it into his head to rescue her before we could deploy the weapon?"

Sensei shifted uncomfortably. "We had a temporary handler assigned to our inside agent after Sportsmaster was captured, but I'm afraid he was… careless in his instructions. Rest assured, he has been dealt with."

Savage started to say something else, but Ra's cut him off. "Let us focus on the matter at hand. I assume that you were unable to reacquire the doctor?"

Sensei shook his head. "No, they took her with them. I had thought that we could capture or eliminate her when she began to track the Fog, but unfortunately they were able to keep her mobile. By the time they reached Philadelphia and the Fog slipped out of our control, I decided there was little point in pursuing her further."

Savage let out a hum (that was closer to a growl in Luthor's opinion) before he said "An unexpected tactic, likely at the direction of their new leader. What do we know about this alien?"

Luthor let out a breath. "Very little beyond the League's official statement, I am afraid. I could ask our mutual friends if they have any information on her species, but for now we will have to take what they say at face value. She is a flying powerhouse with energy attacks, though her exact strength is unknown. I am more concerned with how she and the actions of her team will be more difficult to predict until we have more information on her."

"On the matter of unexpected arrivals, there is a specific concern I would like to raise about the other hero that has appeared, Machina." The Brain said. "Data on the individual is limited, but a certain trend is taking shape."

New screens opened, showing data and images of a certain android. "Machina was claimed the primary agent in the defeat of Amazo, but the final moments of the fight were not observed. There were no remains left. Similarly, while our onsite agents are still looking, they are yet to find and any substantial trace of Fog remains."

"What is your point?" Savage asked.

"The first foe the young heroes faced was Mister Twister, an android capable of controlling wind and electricity. At Santa Prisca, the cultist who last saw Sportsmaster reported seeing large electrical discharges. At Cryptarch, there is evidence of plasma discharge into the basement, similar to the weapon Sportsmaster had been equipped with on his last assignment. I estimate there is a 63% chance that Machina is a technovore."

"He consumes technology?" Ra's asked.

"And can replicate it, if my analysis is correct." The Brain confirmed. "He is also most likely the one responsible for the capture of Sportsmaster, suggesting a degree of competence or power we did not expect. We must be very careful about the technology we field against this team, lest we find it being used against us in turn."

"Agreed. I will start looking into possible counter measures." Luthor said before he let out a mirthless chuckle. "I suppose it is ironic that someone which such an ability is aligned against us. That power would be useful in realizing our goal."

"Then perhaps we should see if that can be arranged?" Raj asked. "We know little of this Machina, but perhaps he can be made… amenable to our cause?"

There was a series of affirmations from everyone present, and there was the unspoken understanding that Ra's would be the one to handle that matter. However, Savage remarked "In the event that fails, we should look into other means of control. He is a machine, after all."

"Well then," Luthor said, a grin creeping on to his face. "It seems that the Light may have to call on Doctor Roquette's services again sooner than we thought."

* * *

Serling Roquette slumped at her desk in her home, a glass in one hand and a half empty bottle of wine in the other. It was early morning by the time the kid superheroes finally declared her safe and dropped her back off at her house, and the woman decided that she needed to decompress a bit before she could go to sleep. Her home computer was a high-end setup with multiple monitors and diagnostic equipment on with which she could do her work from home, but at the moment it was being used to drunkenly watch adorable cat videos. Considering the shit she had just been through over the past few weeks, she figured she deserved to get completely smashed before passing out and sleeping for 14 hours straight.

And yet, she wasn't unwinding. He eyes were unfocused at the screen while the events of the night played out in her head over and over again. After two weeks of being a prisoner, she had intended to be the one to kill her creation. She had wrote the most beautiful piece of maladaptive code she had ever seen in the space of an hour, cracked the security on a piece of prototype tech she had never seen before in minutes, and had been seconds away from uploading it.

And then the Fog had slipped into the basement a little too soon and there was nothing she could do. Like everything she had done up to that point was pointless.

She let out a disgusted grunt as she took another drink. It was amazing how quickly the sense of control could be stripped away from a person. She had first felt that helplessness the first time her captors had punished her for slipping extra commands into the Fog, and she had felt in again in that basement. All she could do was back away as the Fog claimed that thing she had tried to turn into a trap, and she couldn't think of anything that could help. No solution, no ideas. Helpless.

But then, for a moment she saw something when Machina had come to her rescue. In that moment when he brought forth lightning to drive back the monster that would consume her. That thing she saw in both what she had created and the being that represented the pinnacle of what she had been studying all her life.

Power.

Serling shivered a little at the memory. She had never paid that much attention to metahumans or their antics, as they had never really interested her. Even for all of the interesting physics of their powers, the people who wielded them mostly just seemed to use them to punch people. Even watching videos of them in action had never had that much of an impact. But it was so _different_ seeing that power in person. Not just that, but seeing power derived from something she understood.

Power that she could have for herself.

As she already had several times that night, Serling's hand traced over the small vial she had sitting on her desk, no larger than her finger. Inside looked to be nothing more than a grey-silver powder, but it was so much more than that. It had just… fallen into her hand when she handed Machina the flash drive with the virus, flaking off the arm as it rebuilt itself. The alien nanites may have been dead, bit even then the things she could learn from them…

She shouldn't have it. In fact, it was very much illegal for her to have this sample in her own home. Not only did she not have the clearance for it, but she hadn't asked Machina's permission to keep part of his body. One would wonder what she would even want it for considering she was already getting the chance to study his live nanites. She'd have plenty of chances to learn in Kord's lab.

And yet… for the idea that had started to take root in Roquette's mind, she needed something private. Because she knew that if she explained what she wanted to do, he would say no. There were dangers, there would be regulations and laws, and he probably wouldn't understand why she _needed_ this. And once she told him, people would know and try to take it from her. Hell, people had kidnapped her because of something she could potentially create, so what would actually creating her idea do? She stared at the vial, the choice before her weighing on her mind.

 _Problem: you are helpless without superheroes. Solution:…_

Finally, she slotted the vial into the scanner next to her computer tower.

Serling took a deep breath before she sat up straight, her hands reaching out the keyboard in front of her. With a couple of rapid commands she pulled up her nanorobotics CAD program on one screen and the scan diagnostic program on the other. She paused, and after a moment's thought she went to the University Scientific Network, searching for a paper she vaguely remembered reading a few months ago. After a few minutes she found it, a dissertation on the hurdles of microscale cybernetics by one Dr. Silas Stone, and downloaded it. And then she got to work.

In the end, she would have her solution. Even if she had to engineer her own.

=====A=====


	21. 6-1

=====A=====

The attack came in low, the chitinous limb trying to sweep me off my feet to set me up for a follow up attack. I managed to flip backwards and remain on my feet, my tail sweeping out behind me to help me maintain balance. My current form was lithe and flexible, somewhere between xenomorph and humanoid. It was the first time I was trying out that particular shape, but now seemed like as good a time as any to try, given the opponent skittering towards me.

Said opponent was currently a demented mix between a twelve legged spider and a crab, his various angular legs constantly in motion. He had a rounded main body with a pair of large compound eyes on the top and bottom. The spider-crab let out a strange sort of warble before he came at me again, several of his limbs stabbing at me in rapid succession. I tried to block and parry as best I could, but there were simply too many attacks to counter. My arms were swatted to the side before one of his larger limbs reeled back for a much heavier strike.

But then the spider-crab pulled back just before a long green arm shot between us. And by long, I mean about 15 feet. That distance away, M'gann was doing her best Dhalsim impression by lashing out with a series of arm-extending strikes. Our opponent tried to skitter away, but M'gann corralled him with whip like motions to keep his motion restricted. I waited for a few moments before I saw my opportunity, and as the spider-crab was forced back towards me I suddenly moved in and shifted.

As my limbs brushed his, the ridges that covered my body changed and contracted, forming into clamp like structures that captured most of the creature's legs. By the he realized it my opponent was completely ensnared by me, and could not even turn around to properly retaliate.

Unfortunately, my victory was short lived. A second later the surface of the spider-crab rippled and its limbs contorted and expanded. They grew so large and so fast that he burst out of my clamps (painfully, might I add), before several of the leg fused into one and shot towards me. The blow came in lightning fast, slipping past my guard and slamming me in the chest. I slid back across the floor from the impact, but I managed to keep my balance till I came to a stop. By the time I did though, my opponent had completed his transformation into a hulking ogre like monster half again my own height, with a maw of sharp teeth underneath a trio of eyes.

I ran back in and struck at his legs, but my attacks simply didn't have enough force behind them to move him. I managed to twist out of the way of a grab and slip between his legs, just barely getting out of the way of a follow up swing as he turned to face me.

Before he could chase after me though, M'gann came in from the side and physically checked him. And her attempt was far more successful than my own, as she was doing a surprisingly close impression of She-Hulk when she hit. She towered over myself and her musculature was far more developed than what you'd see on a normal human woman. She pulled back before settling into a boxing stance and firing off a series of jabs. The ogre took it in stride though, and managed to grab her arm before flipping her over.

I hesitated as I watched the two wrestle, considering my options. After a few moments I came to a decision and my body changed again, reabsorbing my tail and growing heavier. I wasn't trying to match their scale though, instead focusing on creating mechanical actuators in all of my joints to give them extreme articulation. My joints expanded and my body lengthened as a result, but after a few second every part of me was capable of free rotation.

I waited until M'gann was thrown clear before I dashed in myself. My opponent saw me coming and tried to grab me again, and this time I let him catch my arm. The limb bent and rotated in response, putting him off balance and allowing me to toss him to the ground. The ogre tried to get back up but I was already on top of him, contorting around so that his legs were completely immobilized and he could find no purchase to pry me off. M'gann assisted a moment later by coming in and pressing down on his upper body and arms.

We only had him pinned for a moment though before his form changed once again, his arms slipping out of M'gann's grasp as the joints started to bend at strange angles. His leg fused into a single serpentine tail which whipped around and swept me completely into the air, sending me flying. His head formed into a sleek, swept back helm which slammed into M'gann's legs, knocking her off balance and allowing him to slip away.

The naga slid across the floor with surprising speed, dashing out before coming back in at M'gann. The girl just barely managed to get her footing before our opponent wrapped around her in a snake-like bind. M'gann struggled for a moment, but even with her current frame she was unable to free herself from the grapple. A second later her form shrunk a little and the coils around her loosened as a result. The naga tried to shift around and tighten his grip, but before he could I saw several sets of hands grab the coils and force them apart. With a cry of effort, she heaved and tossed our opponent off of her. She once again took stance, only this time she did so with four sets of arms.

There was a pause as we all assessed each other. M'gann was closer to our opponent and in between me and him, but at my current angle I still had a decent shot if I wanted to take it. Not wanting to waste time, I yelled "M'gann, tether ball!" before my arm changed into a large grapple device. When I fired, it launched a heavy weight at the end of a nanite cable straight at the naga.

Our opponent saw this coming of course and dodged out of the way, but I had never actually intended to hit him. Instead, as the cable just barely missed M'gann, one of her arms lashed out and grabbed the line. As she swung the cable around I was lifted off my feet, curling into a ball just before I collided with a very surprised naga. The force of the blow knocked him down and sent me sailing into the air above him.

As I arced through the air, dozens of small grapple launchers formed on my body. As I reached the height of my jump they all fired as one, lines shooting at creature beneath me. The result was a massive web of nanite cables that captured and pinned the naga to the ground, its body too larger to slip through the gaps. In that instant I had the launchers pull me in, and I rocketed towards the ground with my first cocked back. As I got in range I punched-

And hit nothing as the creature went intangible at the last second, letting me hit the ground as it smoothly phased through my trap and floated several feet away. "That is enough." The monstrosity twisted and shrank down, and in a matter of moments the form of Martian Manhunter was standing in front of us. "You have both done well, and I am pleased at your use of teamwork."

M'gann and I followed suit and shifted back into our human forms as well, the holographic score board of the Mountain's fighting ring flashing beside us. I quickly glanced at Kori and Superboy (who had been watching on the sidelines) before looking back at my teacher. "Thanks. We had the idea for that maneuver a few minutes before we started." I said.

A small smile graced the Martian's lips. "I shall have to think twice before asking for another two-on-one practice." He said before looking at me more directly. "Jacob, I am impressed with your creativity, but you should take more care in guarding you limbs. If enemies learn of how your body works, you can be sure that exposed limbs will be targeted."

He then looked at his niece. "M'gann, you are being more conservative than you need to be when it comes to your forms. I know that Black Canary has been training the team in human martial arts, but you should not feel restricted to being humanoid. You can draw on nature, Terran or Martian, if you need inspiration."

M'gann shifted a little. "I know, it's just… difficult for me. And I'm not very interested in learning more than I already know."

I turned to say something to her, but I paused as I looked at the Martian girl. I hadn't noticed it until that moment, but that she hadn't actually reverted back to normal her human state. While she had removed her extra arms, she had only shrunk down to a little shorter than myself, and her physique was more, well, Amazonian than usual. Even more curious was that she looked a bit older as well, her features less girlish and more mature. It was… quite appealing, actually. _Looks like Kori's had a bit of an influence on her_ , I thought before I said "Trying something new?"

She blinked in confusion before I gestured at her body. She looked down at herself before she let out an 'eep!' and shrunk into herself. Literally.

It was interesting observing the differences between Martian shapeshifting and my own. When M'gann changed form, it usually rippled upwards from her feet, completely changing that part of her before moving on. This was opposed to my own, which initially affected every part of me in a quick burst of change, but then slowed down as more and more layers of details were added in.

It only took a moment for M'gaan to return to her normal teenager self, and she laughed nervously. "I… guess I wasn't paying attention."

I hesitated a little before I continued. "So, why aren't you interested in shapeshifting?"

M'gann shrugged. "I've never been that good at it. I'm not deficient or anything, but compared to most other Martians I'm nothing special. However, Uncle J'onn says my mental abilities are very strong. So, since the team already has you for shapeshifting, and Kori and Superboy for frontline melee, I figured that I should focus on the abilities which no one else in the team had."

I nodded. "That makes sense. That said, I still think it's a good idea that you're training with me. In this line of work you never know when the frontline will suddenly decide that those in the back have been having it too easy and slide up right next to you."

M'gann giggled at that while Manhunter hummed. "An unusual euphemism, but I agree with the sentiment. The Martian military has adopted a holistic approach to personal combat for a reason. To be honest, if I had brought any to Earth, I would also consider schooling you in basic Martian weapon training."

His comment reminded me of a thought I had a few days ago, so I took the opportunity to ask "Manhunter, do Martians have power armor? Or something similar?"

J'onn hesitated for a moment before he replied "Technically speaking yes… though it is rarely used."

I arched an eyebrow. "Well now you have me interested."

"The most common form of armor used by the Martian military is fundamentally the same as our morphic garments, save that the composition is much denser and harder." He explained. "It is much slower and more difficult to shapeshift in, but it offers good protection and allows for mounting of additional weaponry."

"…and that's not power armor?"

"By human standards, no. The purpose of human power armor is to enhance the physical capabilities of the wearer. Most Martian armor, while malleable and manageable, is still a hindrance to us physically. Creating something that could enhance us physically is possible, but there are… consequences."

M'gann stepped up. "The more advanced Martian biotechnology becomes, the more intelligent it becomes. All of our ships are made sentient in part because we _can't_ stop them from becoming sentient. Armor that is advanced enough to seamlessly shapeshift with us would in turn have to have some kind of mind of its own. And having it properly synchronize with its host would require their minds to merge."

J'onn gave her a look and she blushed a little. "I've been doing some studying into biomechanical engineering."

Her uncle made a small sound before looking back at me. "Such melding of the minds is permanent, and inexorably changes the personalities of those involved. As you might imagine, this is not popular, and these Gestalts are rare. That said, there have been instances where soldiers have made that choice." The man looked to the side. "They… are seen by the Martian populous as living weapons, as many have had that mentality in the past. Why do you ask?"

"Well, while I've only consumed one piece of Martian biotech, I've managed to replicate it almost perfectly. Better than any Terran biology in any case." A week or so ago I had gotten around to attempting to assimilate a dead pig to see what would happen, and the results were… underwhelming. I could try to physically mimic the creature's internal structures, but they didn't actually do anything, and I was pretty sure I knew why: my body didn't really do chemistry, especially liquid chemistry. A bit ironic considering I was biomechanical, but the 'bio' part of me was strange, and almost entirely restricted to the inside of my nanites. The nanites interacted with each other mostly with fields or mechanically. They could emulate chemical reactions to an extent, but they really didn't work well with Earth biochemistry.

Martian biotech on the other hand was a very different matter. Martians themselves were a pseudo-protean mass of complex silicates and carbonates, and their tech had a similar composition. For whatever reason, my body had a much easier time mimicking that. "I'm still looking for something to give me back my sense of touch and taste, among other things, and I figured if anything would have that it would be equipment Martians wear."

J'onn nodded in understanding. "I see. Well, our advance armor would likely give you what you're looking for, but given that it is both very rare and sentient, I would advise against it. I… am not aware of anything else that would help you, but I don't see why it could not be made if you merely want physical senses."

I perked up. "That would be fantastic. Do I need to hire a Martian bio-sculptor, or…?"

"I shall make inquires the next time I am in communication with Mars." He replied. "Though I should warn you that there may be complications. The Martian Government is very strict about keeping its isolationism and technology. I do not know how they will respond to the request for biotechnology, even if it comes from one of Earth's heroes."

I felt a little disappointed with that response, but I still said "Thank you." It may behoove me to learn how to fly that Psion ship I came here in…

Martian Manhunter nodded before he glanced at the floating holographic screen and noticed the time. "It seems that we have run out of time, I need to be on patrol shortly." He looked back at the two of us. "We will resume training in a few days."

"Of course, looking forward to it!" M'gann said, while I just gave him a nod of my own. J'onn then turned walked to the Zeta Tubes, disappearing in a flash of golden light a few seconds later.

M'gaan and I then walked back over to our spectators, but as we moved I noticed with some surprise that there was a third person I hadn't noticed: it was Artemis, wearing normal civilian clothes. More surprising than her having shown up without my noticing though, was that she wasn't wearing a mask. _I thought she wanted to keep her identity a secret from us_. It was almost strange to me how normal looking she was. I had gotten used to every person around me having exotic backgrounds, so I guess I just assumed… Well, I guess I was being foolish. Not every woman I meet had to be destined for conflict.

…Though now that I think about it, the number of warrior princesses I'm on a first name basis with has increased by 200% in the last month alone. "M'gann, you're not secretly a warrior princess are you?"

"…No?"

"Because you'd tell me, right? Like, if you were secretly the heir to a long lost lineage of Martian royalty, who was usurped centuries ago and went into hiding until the prophesied child was born, who would then led her oppressed people against the corrupt regime-"

"No!"

I arched an eyebrow at that, but before I could say anything we had already reached the others. "You both did really well!" Kori exclaimed. "You have shown a lot of improvement over the past few weeks. I am curious to see what kind of warriors you will become."

"I see M'gann becoming a Magical Girl." I said. "Not sure about myself, but it will probably involve a great deal pontificating and dramatic poses."

"Oh, like in the traditional Tamaranian hero epics." Kori said. I gave her a curious look, and she proceeded to lift off the ground and spin in the air. When she stopped one leg was placed in front of the other, her hips and head were cocked to the side, and she pointed down at me with one arm while the other framed her chest. " _You may have thought me dead, tyrant, but in the end your defeat shall come from me! Alisand'r!_ "

My mouth opened and closed for a few seconds before I said "You're going to have to tell me about these epics at some point. And I'm going to have to show you a certain Bizarre Adventure…"

"…You guys are weird." Artemis said after a moment.

I chuckled and looked at the blond girl. "I have to admit, I'm a little surprised to see you here."

She arched an eyebrow at me. "Why? It's still the summer, and I didn't get a chance to check this place out. Besides, I thought you guys, you know, hang out here and stuff."

"Well, most of us live here, but yes." I said. "The other guys have their own schedules and show up whenever. I've been trying to arrange a more regular 'causal day', but we haven't quite made it work yet."

"But you can show up whenever you want!" M'gann insisted. "You can even stay over, we have plenty of space."

"Cool, haven't had a slumber party in…" She trailed off before she blinked. "Actually I've never had a slumber party. That's depressing. Anyway, never got a chance to look around, but this place has got have some fun stuff, right? "

"Certainly! There's a kitchen, game center, and a private beach." Kori said. "Although Jacob informed me after the last time that I should unclothe when I get to the beach, rather than in my room first."

"Why would that be an iss- wait." Artemis said with mild alarm before she glanced at the rest of us. "When she says 'unclothe'…?"

I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. "Err, Tamaranians are much more resilient to the elements than humans. As such clothing is slightly more optional for them… Which, in the course of living with her, she has shown us."

Superboy blushed and shifted uncomfortably. "Laundry day."

"I-I knocked first and she said she was decent!" M'gann insisted.

For her part, the Tamranian just seemed amused. "I am still baffled by how you lot consider a little nudity to be taboo."

Wanting to move the topic back to something slightly less awkward, I looked at Artemis and asked "So, I haven't caught your name yet."

She looked at me like I was an idiot. "…Artemis."

I blinked. "Wait, your real name actually is Artemis? Like, you just took your first name as your superhero name?"

She reeled back from me, her eyes going wide. "W-Wait, what?! No no no, not my real name, of course not! Why would you assume that?!"

"But, you just said that it was Artemis-"

"I meant why would you assume that's my real name?!"

"I… you're not wearing a mask," I said, my confusion growing. "I assumed that meant you were letting the team know your real identity."

"Well, no. I mean, yeah, you know what I look like but you're not going to try to use that to find out who I am, right?"

I opened my mouth before I closed it again. Eventually I managed to say. "Huh. That… is an oddly specific amount of trust that you're putting in us."

She frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I… nothing. It doesn't matter." I had briefly considered telling her about how the Mountain had cameras everywhere which were linked to a computer with excellent facial recognition software, but I decided against it. I didn't want to overly stress her at the moment. _I should probably asked Batman if there is a way to blush out her face on the recordings._

When I came down to it, I didn't really care to try to find out who she really was. If she wanted to tell me she would tell me. Hell, I hadn't even bothered confirming who Robin was yet. I wasn't sure why he thought that a pair of sunglasses was enough to keep me from narrowing his identity down. I was still 95% sure that he was Dick Grayson, but I honestly didn't feel need to confirm that if he didn't want me to.

I sighed. "Alright, I guess it was a bit silly of me to seriously think you used your first name as your superhero name. I mean, no one's stupid enough to do that."

Artemis's eyes narrowed and I could see her jaw clench a little. "Yes. Very stupid. Of course." She said before she looked away and started muttering under her breath.

After a moment Superboy spoke up. "So, we doing something or what?"

I looked at him. "You got something in mind?"

He shrugged. "Not really, any time we've done something as a group I've just followed you guys' lead. I don't… really know what most normal people do for fun."

"Come on, you have to know of something. You were in Metropolis a week or two back, right? Did you find anything there you liked?"

A scowl suddenly formed on his face. "No." He said flatly.

My brow furrowed. That sounded like something had happened. But, before I could inquire further, Kori said "Well Jacob, how about you? What activities did you preform to create bonds with others before you came here?"

"Aside from life threatening combat? Typically getting intoxicated and doing something foolish together." I remarked. "My old standby used to be karaoke."

"Oh, I've been meaning to try that!" M'gann said excitedly. "Martians don't really sing, not vocally anyway, so I'd love to give it a shot together."

Kori mirrored the sentiment. "A marvelous idea! I haven't joined in a proper ballad in ages."

Superboy was much more reluctant though. "Singing? I don't like the sound of that."

"Well, we're supposed to be drunk and not care." I said. "But, unless Artemis is much older than she looks, none of us can or should consume alcohol. So, I'm not sure karaoke is the best thing here."

"Please, Jacob?" M'gann pleaded as she clasped her hands and leaned towards me.

"Look, I-" I started to say as I turned to face her, but I had a sudden flash of insight and covered my eyes with my hands. "Oh no."

"Jacob, what's wrong?" She asked.

"M'gann, are you giving me the sad puppy dog eyes?"

"No."

"I'm serious here. You know what I've said about you and that look."

"That it's an unfair use of my shapeshifting and natural adorableness to manipulate you to do things for me?"

"Yes that." I confirmed. "Hence the not looking."

"Jacob, I promise you I'm not giving you the sad puppy dog eyes."

"Alright… when I lower my hands, I'm expecting no sad puppy dog eyes."

I lowered my hands. She was giving me the sad puppy dog eyes.

"…I trusted you." I said bitterly.

* * *

"Alright, that should do it," I said with a sigh as I finished hooking up the common room TV to the Mountain's audio system. I walked in front of the large screen and pulled up karaoke program as everyone else settled onto the couch behind me. I volunteered to go first. It was technically my fault that we were doing this, so it was only right that I would be offering my dignity on the altar of sacrifice first.

I hummed as I cycled through the song list until I found the song I had spotted in the booklet. I had originally planned to do something by Queen (an old favorite and standby when it came to karaoke), but when I had spotted this particular number I knew that I had to do it at least once. I may not have been in front of a lounge, but I wasn't going to let that stop me.

As the sound of the piano started to play, I took a breath. " _Am I bluuuue?~_ "

=====A=====


	22. 6-2

=====A=====

I walked across the cargo bay towards the school bus sized, oblong object that was M'gann's bioship. The biomechanical construct was a deep red color and had a sort of pebbly texture while in that state, but otherwise was completely featureless. I wasn't sure how aware she was of her surroundings while resting, but I got the impression that she started paying attention to me as I came to a stop next to her.

I looked at the ship for a few moments before I reached into the bag I held and pulled out a cube, about four inches on each side. I held the cube out to the pod, and after a second the surface bulged outward and enveloped my hand. When the mass pulled back the cube was gone, and the bioship made a sound I could only describe as a trill.

"Good Moya." I said, patting her surface before I started fishing around for more in my bag. "How has your week been?"

"Eh, not bad."

My free arm formed into a laser cannon as I turned, but I stopped when I found Robin standing behind me with a grin. I forced myself to calm down as I glared at him. "You know, a lot of the mystique is lost when I know that you're basically just holding your cape in front of your face like an idiot."

"You'd have to actually see me doing it for it to count, though."

My laugh was flat as I took note of his costume. "So, what's up? Is there a mission?"

"Nah, had some free time so I thought I'd swing by for some teamwork training." The boy said. "I got some maneuvers I'd like to try out before we use it on a mission."

I hummed as my arm returned to normal, fishing another cube out of the bag. "Well, while I appreciate the sentiment, you will have to make do with Superboy or M'gann. Kori and I are going out on patrol with Wonder Woman again today."

I could see him arch an eyebrow through his domino mask. "Then what are you waiting around here for?"

I offered another cube to the bioship as I said "It was a bit spur of the moment on Wonder Woman's part, and she said she'd meet us here first. Didn't give us a solid time, but she should be here soon. So I decided to spend a little time feeding Moya, and last I left Kori she and M'gann were watching cooking shows." I frowned and looked off to the side. "I hope they're learning something. Last time I walked in on the two of them in the kitchen I found them covered in flour and cake batter."

"… I get the feeling that if Wally knew about half the stuff the girls got up to in this mountain he would insist on moving in." Robin said.

"He must never know." I replied solemnly.

"Uh huh. And the cubes?"

"They're silicate-carbon lattices filled with highly charged ions." I said. "They're basically sugar cubes for bioships."

As I spoke, Moya started to get impatient and her mass started to engulf the rest of my arm. I turned back and tried to pull my arm out. "No, bad Moya! No eating me so you can get the rest of the sugar cubes!"

"Moya?" Robin asked.

"My name for the bioship," I said as I managed to pull my arm free. "She technically does have a name, but it's purely telepathic. So I've settled on Moya."

He gave me a look. "And where did that name come from?"

"Nowhere in particular." I said. Unfortunately, I had to revise my earlier assessment of this being the best of all universes, seeing as how apparently Farscape didn't exist here.

There was a pause before he changed subject. "So… what was your home life like?" I gave him a look, and he held up his hands placating. "You know, before all this."

I hesitated at the non-sequitur for a moment before I replied "Good. Normal, but good. My family's spread out all over the east coast, so we didn't see each other as much as we should have, but it was good."

"And you've got none left?" He asked. "Every time someone's asked you about it you just say 'there's nothing to go back to'."

A frown settled on my face as I resumed feeding the bioship. "I really don't care to talk about it."

"Dude, it's ok. I know."

I turned to look at him fully. "You… know?"

"Batman told me about where you came from."

My eyebrows rose. That wasn't what I was expecting. "I see. So you know about… the _thing_."

"Yeah, I know about the _thing_." Robin said, matching my tone.

I took a deep breath. "Wow, I wasn't expecting this. I knew that I had to talk about the _thing_ eventually, but man… its serious business, the _thing_. I mean it's not as bad as the stuff, but the _thing_ is something else."

Robin rolled his eyes. "Alright, you don't have to be that snarky about it."

The corners of my mouth quirked upwards. "Well, what do you expect? I mean, the old 'pretend that you already know the secret' trick? Come on Robin, give me a little credit."

He grinned as he perked up. "So you are hiding something!"

I shrugged. If he already suspected something, there was no way I was going to hide the fact that I was hiding something from the apprentice to the world's greatest detective. "So what if I am, Mr. Dark Shades?" I asked pointedly.

"Because you don't make sense!" He insisted. "Prior to showing up from outer space, you didn't exist. There isn't a single person matching your profile or given background I can find."

A frown formed on my face. "Wait, you've been trying to snoop into my past without telling me? What the hell, kid?!"

He shrugged. "Hey, I was trained by Batman. I snoop on everyone I know as a matter of course."

"That doesn't make it alright. Seriously, people aren't going to trust you if you act like that."

"So what, I should just accept what people tell me as the truth without checking?" He argued back. "That's a quick way of getting yourself killed when you thought you were safe."

"Well, if it bothers you so much, why didn't you just ask Batman who I am?" Robin grimaced and looked off to the side, and I made a small noise. "You already did, didn't you?"

"He wants me to find out on my own, that's all." Robin insisted as he looked back at me. "He likes to set up challenges like that."

I sighed. "Look, I'm going to ask this once." I said. "Can you please just wait for me to tell you what it is when I'm ready? It's not great for team cohesion if we're all trying to uncover each other's secrets."

The boy just smiled at that, though. "What, you think you can find out my secret identity first? Challenge accepted."

I groaned as I pinched the bridge of my nose. To be honest, I wasn't all that concerned for myself. After all if he somehow found my family I'd be way too excited by how he found an interdimensional portal to care about anything else. No, I was more worried that he would take the same sort of attitude with Artemis. I had half a mind to ask him not to do that do her, but given his last response, it'd probably just encourage him.

The Mountian's audio system came to life, and Wonder Woman's voice came through. " _Starfire, Machina, I have arrived. Met me in the main hall._ "

I didn't want to deal with Robin right then. I decided to take it up with Batman later, and hopefully I wouldn't have to get too confrontational.

So, I just let out a huff as I turned my back to him, walking down the tunnel to the main room. "You are such a _dick_ sometimes."

I didn't look back, but with my blindsight I could see him stiffen just a little. _That should mess with him for a while._

I stopped by the lab to drop off my bag of 'sugar cubes' before resuming course. When I got to the main chamber, I found Kori and Diana waiting for me. "Jacob, ready to ensure the safety of the populace again?" Kori asked.

"Hopefully better than last time," I remarked. "If we encounter another League-level threat I think I'll let someone else take point."

"But if your abilities are needed again, you will take the point regardless. Oh, I know! Perhaps you could form yourself into a weapon to be wielded by your comrade. Then they can take the point, and the point will be you!"

I raise and finger and opened my mouth, but no response came. After a moment I just hung my head in defeat.

Diana chuckled before she turned to look at me. "Actually, there has been a change of plans. Today it is just going to be myself and Starfire."

I blinked. "Oh. Uh, alright." I will admit I felt a little let down at that. Ok, more than a little let down, but to be honest I had been surprised by the invite the first time. I assumed it was because Kori, kind hearted soul that she was, had took it upon herself to bring me along.

And sure enough, Kori turned to Diana and opened her mouth to say something, but the other woman held her hand up first. "You are going out today, Jacob, just not with me. Another League member has expressed interest."

Before I could ask who, the Zeta Tube whirred to life. " _Recognized: Superman, 0-1._ "

The Man of Steel walked out of the light and smiled at us. "Hope I'm not too late. Had to help put out a fire on my way here."

Oh, I wasn't patrolling with Wonder Woman because Superman wanted to hang out with me today.

Holy shit, Superman wanted to hang out with me today!

"You're on time." Diana said, unaware of my internal fanboy. "I was just informing Machina how you'd be the one mentoring him today." She looked at me. "Is this alright with you?"

"Yes, yes of course!" I said just a little too loudly. "I mean, I still can't fly, but I've gotten a bit better with the grapple lines, so if we stay in the city it shouldn't be too much of a problem, unless you have to get somewhere super-fast, but then I can catch up, and I'm going to stop talking now." My mouth clicked shut.

Superman just laughed. "It's good to see you're so enthusiastic. Let's put that energy to use, shall we?" he said as he gestured back at the Zeta Tubes.

"Ah, right." I said as I started to move, but I stopped as a thought occurred to me. "Actually, could Superboy come along too? I think he'd really appreciate it." The kid still had a bit of a complex when it came to Superman, so getting some encouragement from the man himself would probably help. If nothing else the time together it should help reduce Superboy's perception of his progenitor being this distant, unachievable thing.

However, Superman flinched as I said it. He schooled his features quick enough that I almost missed it, but I still saw his mouth twitch a little before he said "Actually, I'd prefer if it was just you and me. Keep things one-on-one, you know?"

"Oh. Alright." I said, and the smile returned as we both made our way to the Zeta Tube. I was about to say something else, but after a moment I shook my head and decided not to.

* * *

To my surprise, the day passed without incident.

Alright, that wasn't really true. There were two muggings, one car theft, a small gang fight, and one incident of a construction worker falling off the top of a half done building. But those were all relatively mundane things that were resolved quickly and easily. _And man, doesn't saying that show just how much my perception of things have already become skewed_? But nevertheless, as the day wore on I realized something: I was actually enjoying myself a little.

Certainly that was thanks in no small part to Superman. I was spending time with the most iconic superhero ever, and the man himself was just generally pleasant to be around. But more that, I found I wasn't as anxious as I normally was when doing superhero stuff. After all, Superman was here. Of course everything would be alright.

It was edging into late afternoon when we found ourselves taking a break near the top of one of the taller buildings. I was stuck to the side like a certain wall-crawler while he floated nearby. "You know, we don't have any cities like this back where I come from?" I said as I gestured to the Metropolis skyline. "This particular architectural style I mean. This sort of art deco simply never made it into practical use." Wait, was Metropolis art deco, or was I thinking of Gotham? _I'll look it up later_.

Superman nodded. "It's the only one of its kind here. It was built to be The City of Tomorrow, so they hired some architects to make sure it looked the part. These days I couldn't imagine living anywhere else." He glanced at me. "If you ever want to move out of Mount Justice, I could recommend a few places."

I shrugged. "Living in the Mountain is less stressful, though. I only have to worry about my teammates. Having a city to patrol all the time must be exhausting." I paused. "If you don't mind my asking, how do you… not go crazy from having to constantly hear people in trouble?"

"I think you're assuming that my hearing is better than it is." He remarked. "True, I can hear accurately out to several blocks, and less accurately many more blocks beyond that, but I can't hear what is going on in the entire city. As well, the crime rate in Metropolis isn't so bad that that I'm constantly being pulled away from what I am doing. Most days, anyway."

"Huh." I said. I had never really payed too much attention to the power scale between different versions of the DC universes, but that was definitely 'less' than any other version of Superman I had ever seen. I decided to focus on something else though. "In the… stories I've read there are a lot of plot lines that focus on the difficulties of living two lives. I suppose I'm lucky I don't have my own city to patrol on top over everything else. That said I'm glad for the chance to get to do any good really. I mean, it's still kinda my job and all."

Superman arched an eyebrow at that. "I don't think most superheroes consider their work to be their 'job', at least not like you're implying. Are you saying you have no interest in a normal job?"

"A bit hard to hold down a 9 to 5 with this complexion." I said as I gestured at myself.

"What if that wasn't a problem? Would you not want a secret identity?"

I had asked myself that question before, and had already come to a conclusion. "To be honest, I don't feel like I need one. I'm getting most of what I want out of life right now. I live in a high tech mountain fortress with access to a global teleportation network. I hang out and do things with my roommates, and on occasion the rest of the team. I'm even getting to know Doctor Roquette and Kord Industries's scientists better. I'm not sure what a secret identity would get me."

"A chance to be normal?" He said softly. "A chance to go back-"

"No." Superman pulled back at my sudden response, and I shook my head. "Sorry. I don't mean wouldn't want that exactly, I just… I don't want to try to replace what I've lost. I have a chance to do something new. Something extraordinary. I feel like, for what this has cost me, I should take it as far as I can."

Superman was silent for a long moment, taking in what I said. Before he could respond though, our coms activated. " _Batman to Superman and Machina_."

Superman's hand went to his ear. "Copy."

" _Martian Manhunter's investigations have revealed an Intergang weapons cache in Metropolis. Data shows that it just received a shipment up from Miami, and is going to be shipped off to parts unknown in a few hours. The location is a warehouse down by the docks, Pier 13, 5th from the back._ "

"Right. We'll take care of it." Superman took his hand off his ear and looked at me. "Looks like we have a little more work to do before we're done today. You up for it?"

"Of course."

* * *

It wasn't long before we found ourselves down by the Metropolis waterfront, standing on top the warehouse adjacent to the one Batman had told us about. It was… well, it was exactly what you would expect a warehouse to look like. It was three stories tall and about the size of a small city block. Neither I nor Superman wanted to barge in right away, so we took a minute to scope out the place.

And by that, I meant Superman was scanning every inch of it with his X-ray vision while I kind of awkwardly stood off to the side. After a minute or so he said "This is definitely the place. I can see several crates full of equipment that are not terrestrial in origin."

"Apokolipian tech?" I asked.

"I'm not that familiar with it yet, but probably." He said. "There are about two dozen men spread throughout the warehouse-" He stopped and tensed a little. "And one hostage up in the offices, unless Intergang's usual method of entertaining guests includes tying them to a chair and bringing out the bolt cutters."

"Now that's just excessive." I muttered, looking at the warehouse as my mouth twisted.

He turned to look at me. "We don't have a lot of time before things get ugly, so let's keep it simple. I'll rescue the hostage and take care of the men upstairs, you head in through the ground floor and make sure no one gets away. You can handle baseline humans with guns, right?"

I nodded. "Yes."

"Good. Go!" And without wasting another second Superman flew up into the air and came right back down through the warehouse roof. I blinked for a second before I fired a grapple line at the edge of the roof and swung down. "Man, superheroes in this universe really don't like wasting time…"

I swung around back to the loading bay and landed with a heavy thud at the entrance. The shutters were all closed, but I could hear some activity inside. I took a moment to configure my internals before I simply punched the shutters, tearing through the metal sheet and stepping into the warehouse. In that moment I took stock of the dozen or so men that turned to face me, all dressed in a variety of workman clothes but clearly armed.

Wait, should I say something? This feels like the right moment for a superhero one liner. But I was drawing a blank. Shit! _A screw it, I'll let the Bruce handle this one_.

"I would have knocked, but my fist had other plans."

And then everyone pulled their guns and opened fire on me.

I was hit with a barrage of bullets from a variety of handguns and automatic weapons, but for a few seconds I simply stood my ground and took it. The kinetic manipulators I had gotten from Amazo nullified the impacts to the point where I almost felt nothing. I had yet to really test them out in the field since I had gotten them, but the results I was getting right then certainly seemed exceptional.

I used the time to scope out the room and the people in it. The warehouse floor was massive, but most of the floor near the wall was staked with crates and boxes arranged in aisles, so the open space was merely large. There was a van in the middle of the floor which six men had been loading up with some of those crates. Three men had been positioned near the door until I had done my impression of the Kool-Aid man and they backed off. And finally, there were three more men up in the catwalks above, all of which were shooting at me.

I needed to take out the guys shooting from the catwalk before they hit one of their own, but I was hesitant to just start throwing lightning. There was a lot of metal in this warehouse (the catwalk included), and I did not trust myself to have the proper control to knock them out without doing permanent damage. So, I had to try something else. My right arm morphed into a cannon configuration, and as I aimed it at them waves of sound ripped forth from it, the air visibly distorting from the force of it. The men were knocked off their feet by the blast and sent tumbling over the railing, crashing into a tall pile of crates below.

Technically another thing I had gotten from Amazo, but I had been experimenting with sonic cannons long before him. This was just the first time where it seemed like the best solution.

With that taken care of I folded my arm back to normal and moved forward towards the nearest group of three thugs. By the time they had finally realized that guns weren't going to work I was already on top of them. _Careful now_ , I thought as I punched the first man's sternum. He collapsed and evacuated his stomach on the ground, but I hadn't felt anything break. The man next to him tried to pistol whip me, but I grabbed his arm before it could connect and hurled him at the third man. The two crashed into each other before sliding to a stop some distance away.

I could have shocked them to unconsciousness, but I needed to learn proper strength control when it came to normal humans. If I was always afraid of hurting people it would cut down on my options in combat, and I didn't think I could afford that in the long run.

My attention snapped back to the van as I heard the screeching of tires and the vehicle accelerated towards me. I could have gotten out of the way, but the man I had just punched out was still curled into a ball at my feet. _Ah god damn it_ , I thought as I charged forward, my frame expanding as I met the front of the car head on and grabbed it. I grit my teeth as I was pushed back, the floor of the warehouse tearing up beneath my feet. With a grunt I got my hands underneath the front bumper and lifted, removing the front wheels from the ground and cutting off its forward acceleration. A second later I hoisted the whole van into the air and, turning it away from the man I had downed, smashed the front into the warehouse floor. Two men came tumbling out through the windshield and onto the floor, groaning but otherwise unmoving. I set the vehicle down carefully and mentally congratulated myself on how I handled the situation.

…Wait a second, wouldn't it have been way safer and easier it I had just picked the downed thug up and moved him out of the way rather than trying to lift the van? Damn it! No one must know.

Well, eight down, four to go, and it looked like the remaining criminals had run deeper into the warehouse to get away from me. Or, considering that they were supposed to be transporting weapons, to get better armaments. I didn't want to give them the chance and took off running down the aisles of crates after them.

It only took me a few seconds to locate them. They weren't exactly trying to be stealthy, so my enhanced hearing was able to pick out their location quickly, though they were in the aisle right next to mine. I jumped over a twenty foot pile of crates and saw my quarry underneath me as I moved through the air, three men looking around nervously while the fourth desperately pried open a container with a crowbar. I landed with a heavy thud behind them before I turned, sweeping out with my leg and knocking one of the men to the ground. I tried to move to the man who was unboxing something, but another got in my way as he tried to bull rush me over. I was much sturdier than he thought though, and I simply grabbed him and flipped him over my shoulder. I heard him scream before it was cut off by the sound of crashing wood.

Still, he had given his friend the time he needed to pull a weapon of some kind out of the crate. It looked to be some sort of bladed staff, covered in those circles and angular line patterns which had always been used for New God technology in the comics. The head of the weapon crackled with some form of red energy as the thug swung at my center of mass, and I danced back out of range. The man pushed forwards swinging wildly, and I was forced to juke to the side as he thrust the spear at me. The container the tip of the staff touched simply disintegrated at the contact.

 _Definitely not getting touched by that_ , I thought as my arms reconfigured to channel lightning. I swiftly stepped into the thug's reach as he tried to reset his stance, and when we swung again the haft of the staff hit my side as I was too close. One arm wrapped around the weapon while the other reached out and grabbed his chest, shocking him into unconsciousness. I glanced at the weapon I held in my hand. If I remembered correctly, Apokoliptian tech was supposed to be some of the most advanced in the universe. It was also, if I remembered correctly, powered by a form of energy that was the antithesis to free will.

 _Think I'll play it safe_ , I though as I tossed the staff back into its container. I hadn't forgotten about the last man, but he had started to make a run for it after his buddy tried to engage me in glorious melee. I let out a breath as I saw him bolt around the corner at the far end of the aisle and followed after him, putting on enough speed that I had to slide around the corner to make the turn

And I stood just in time for the man, who had stopped just out of sight to take aim, to level his pistol at my face point blank and fire.

My head snapped back, more out of reflex than anything else, but after a moment I realized something. _Holy shit, did I just…?_ Slowly, I turned my head to look at the frozen thug standing in front of me. I then smiled, showing the bullet I had managed to catch between my teeth by pure chance (not that he needed to know that).

He stared at me for a moment longer before he dropped the gun and put his hands in the air. "I think I'll go to jail now."

* * *

"…and then I tied them all up and waited for you to show up." I told the police officer about ten minutes later, the middle aged man nodding as he jotted it down in his note pad. "Do you need anything else?"

"No, I think that about covers it." The man said as he put the pad away. "Next time though, you think you could manage not to leave a mangled van for us to clean up?"

"Oh, uh, sorry." I apologized.

However, the cop just laughed, his weathered face gaining a mess of wrinkles in the process. "Ah, I'm just busting your chops, kid. You have any idea the kind of messes we have to clean up after Big Blue? This is nothing compared to that giant robot that went sightseeing downtown a few years back." The man then narrowed his eyes a little as he looked at me. "Hey, I know you're not from around here, but you look familiar."

I shifted a little. "Well, I've never been to Metropolis before… but you might have heard of me a few weeks back. I was the one who took down that android in New York."

"Ah yeah, now I remember. There was this big deal about how it was your first day but you had to do it on your own. Caused a minor media ruckus when the casualties came out."

I winced. "I haven't really been paying attention to the news. Should I be worried or…"

The man waved me off. "Screw 'em. There's always someone complaining about superheroes not doing a perfect job. They don't understand you don't always get the perfect circumstances, that you have to make do with what you've got. I'm sure you did the best you could. And hey, if Superman likes you enough to let you tag along, I'm sure he thinks so to."

I was silent for a long moment before I said "Thank you, officer."

"Call me Mike." He said with a smile and a nod before he walked off. "See you around, kid."

I smiled, and then I frowned. "Wait, kid?" I said, but the officer had already left. I rolled my eyes before looking around. The various Intergang thugs were being herded into a police lock-up van, though it was slow going as some of them had gotten a bit busted up. And right next to the van was a man who was, I had been informed, the now freed hostage, an average looking man with glasses and receding brown hair. And I found him looking back at me. It… actually made me surprisingly uncomfortable, like he was staring right through me or something…

"You did a good job." I gave a start as Superman floated down next to me. "You'd think the bad guys in this city would only fire a couple a bullets and check if it actually works rather than emptying their entire clips."

"Oh, thanks." I said, snapping out of my thoughts.

He tilted his head a little. "Something wrong?"

I shook my head. "No, nothing. So, who exactly-" I turned to point at the former hostage, but for to my surprised that he was gone. "What the… the hostage was right here."

Superman looked around before he shrugged. "Must have wandered off, the man was pretty shaken up. He told me that he works inventory for the docks and came in after finding a clerical error in the manifest, and stumbled on the men we stopped. Not exactly the problem he was expecting."

"Right…" I said before I looked back at him. "So, are we done here?"

"More or less. I took a quick stock of the Apokoliptian tech and compared it to figures Batman gave me from his last investigation of Intergang. It seems to be almost the entirety of their remaining alien tech. A few bits are left though, but whether they were moved from here or sent elsewhere I don't know. Do you have any investigative training?"

My mouth pressed thin. "I'm afraid not. Robin usually handles that for the team. I do technically have sensor technology, but I don't really know how to use it correctly. Not with my software issues."

He nodded. "I couldn't find any clues either, so let's leave it to the detectives for now. That said, Batman will likely be taking a look himself later." He glanced at the reddening sky, the sun just barely visible on the horizon. "Well, I'd say this was a fairly successful day. Do you want to head back to the Mountain? You can stay in the city if you want."

I glanced at the city skyline before looking back at him. "No, I think I'll just head back home. No offense, I'd just rather have a full day to explore a new city."

"Alright, if there's anything you need, just let me know." He said as he started to take off.

At his words a though occurred to me, and I reached out to him. "Actually, I do have something of a request."

Superman stopped before he floated back down next to me. "What is it?" He asked.

"Could you give me any medical data you have on Kryptonians?"

Superman went still at this, and I could feel the intensity of his gaze as he asked "Why?"

I glanced around before lowering my voice. "Well, Superboy has been feeling… frustrated at his limitations due to being a hybrid, especially in comparison to you. I promised him that I would try to bring out his full potential, but that has been difficult to say the least."

"What do you mean by 'full potential'?"

"In the comics Superboy's power was always described as tactile telekinesis, sort of a result of his mixed heritage. As time went on he developed completely unique abilities based on this. I was hoping to find a way to help that along." I sighed. "Unfortunately, the only thing I've learned after a couple of weeks of study is that I have no idea how Kryptonian biology works. I've read up all the literature I can find, but..."

"What about the notes we retrieved from Cadmus's computers?"

"They have been helpful, but are incomplete. Most of the files relate to the Genomorphs rather than Superboy himself, and what there was seemed to mostly be about his containment and upkeep. I'm pretty sure that facility was only where they were keeping him, not where he was… made. Have you made any progress on finding anyone else involved in his creation?"

"Unfortunately, no. The facility in which we found Superboy was apparently made to function with minimal oversight. As far as we can tell there were only a dozen people - well, humans - working there, with Dr. Desmond at the head. There are no records of anyone else being involved."

I sighed. "I've already checked the info on all of those scientists, none of them were involved in his creation. The one lead I have is a single memo that arrived with Superboy the day he showed up to the facility, detailing nutrient and sunlight levels while he was kept in stasis. On that memo is a signature that doesn't match any of the scientists that worked there. Well, just initials really: CF. The last time I asked Batman about it he said he was still looking into it."

Superman's mouth pressed into a thin line before he looked off to the side. "I'm… a bit reluctant. STAR labs does have some information on my physiology, but I assume what you are asking for is what I keep in my fortress?" I nodded and he continued. "I've never moved any of the data off the crystals as a security measure. If detailed knowledge of Krypontian technology, or my own biology, ever fell into the wrong hands…"

"I think the ship has sailed on that last one," I pointed out.

Superman's actually winced a little before looking at me. "Are you are sure that this information will help him?"

I shrugged. "I can't be certain of anything at this point, but if nothing else, it will help me understand Kryptonian biology more. Which I imagine will be very useful as I think I might kinda be the team medic now." He looked at me with an arched eyebrow and I continued. "I can mimic a good amount of the equipment in the med bay and have been studying the physiologies of my teammates for comparisons. Someone's gotta make sure they come out ok."

"I see." He said as he nodded to himself. "You are the one helping him. Right." He took a breath. "Alright. I'll see what I can do about converting the files into something the Mountain's computer can parse, and send it over. Then you can… do what you have to do."

I smiled, but in truth I was starting to feel a little concerned. Superman… was being hesitant and awkward. It was just _wrong_ to see the world's greatest superhero act like that somehow, like something fundamental with the world was off. "Thank you. But, sir…" I said hesitantly. "If you don't mind my asking, is something wrong?"

He looked taken aback at that. "What? No, no! Of course not." He shifted a bit before he rose into the air. "I'll see about getting you those files. Keep up the good work!" And in a blue blur he was gone.

I stared after him for a long moment before I said to the open air "What the hell was that?"

=====A=====


	23. 6-3

=====A=====

Kord Industries was one of largest tech companies in both America and Europe, which meant that it had a number of facilities across the nation. The facility dedicated to robotics research was located in southern California, on a relatively remote part of the coastline (it was also perched close to the edge of a cliff dropping off into the ocean, because I guess that's just a rule for coastline scientist labs). A good part of the surrounding area was used as a sort of testing ground for the various land and air drones the facility developed. In addition to robotics, the building also doubled as the head of Kord Industries' nanotech research.

A fact which Serling was endlessly miffed about.

"Seriously, you couldn't even give nanotechnology its own building?" Serling said as she walked down the rows of the lab, inspecting the equipment it had to offer. "Bad enough that you barely have a presence in the nanotech market at all, but it also has to play second fiddle to mundane robotics? And you wonder why I keep turning you down."

For his part Ted Kord sighed. "It has some of the best tech for nanotech development in the country, and it's used enhancing said robotics." He said as he gestured to the lab around us. Indeed, the large room was filled rows of servers, tables lined with high end microscopes and nano-tweezers, vacuum chambers, field emitters, and a number of things that honestly just looked like random parts smashed together. "Besides, isn't the whole point of nanotech keeping things small?" He shot Serling a smile, which I swore sparkled. I was forced to admit, between the man's classically American good looks and his A-type work focused personality, the man could have told me he was John Galt and I wouldn't have bat an eyelash.

Serling however was unimpressed, and narrowed her eyes. "Cute, but it doesn't change the fact that you're sidelining one of the biggest emerging fields in technology."

"Sidelining?!" Ted shouted indignantly. "It's a core part of my company! Just because I'm not focusing on nano- _robotics_ doesn't mean it's not important to me."

"You're a _generalist_." She said with the same inflection that one might use for 'plague carrier'. "You mix other fields together until you get something that works and you sell it."

I rolled my eyes before sliding off the stool I had been sitting on and clapped my hands. "Kids! You're both very smart and pretty, but can we please get to the task at hand?"

Ted gestured. "Certainly. I'm ready to start when our lovely expert is." Serling scowled at him before she turned and started to type at the console next to her, attached to a big row of servers. But not before she shot me a look too, which I think I totally didn't deserve. She was acting like I was automatically on his side.

Then again, that may have been because I technically worked for him. It had come up the first time I met Ted that I didn't have a real identity or job to speak off, and that I wasn't going to be getting one soon due to my condition. At which point He suggested that I come work for him. Not full time, but as a 'Technology Consultant', mostly as a nice legal way for me to be paid for my time, and for him to use any discoveries he made while studying me. I had questioned the legality of a League affiliate being hired for a position like this, but apparently there was precedent for this sort of thing in the League charter.

So, I was employed by Kord Industries, and making pretty decent money for barely ever showing up to work. Strictly speaking I was actually making less money than I used to make as a programmer, but considering all the other benefits of my situation (Mountain fortress room and board, teleportation network, ect.) I think it more than made up for it. That said, my 'salary' was going to shoot up dramatically soon; I had informed Ted earlier how I had figured out how to use my molecular forge to create carbon nanotubes, and he was very interested in hashing out a deal to make me a supplier.

Serling finished whatever she was typing and grabbed a number of prongs similar to the one she had used on me back at the university. "Alright, now that we have… satisfactory equipment, the first to do is to get some baseline scans of your nanites' communication network. The scans you gave me were helpful, but I need to do some poking around myself to get an idea what's going on inside you."

"…Those are never words you want your doctor telling you." I said with a frown, but I stepped closer and let the woman do her thing. In short order I was turned into a high tech pin cushion with half a dozen of those prongs sticking out of various points of my body. While this was going on, Ted had kept himself busy with setting up a couple of scanning devices around me. He had already tried this early when we didn't have Serling to work with but I suppose he thought he would get better data now with the nanotechnology specialist at the helm.

The next two hours were relatively dull, with Serling constantly fiddling with things and typing in new diagnostics into the computer. She managed to replicate her success in 'touching' my mind easily, but she didn't get much farther than that. Every other thing she tried just felt more and more unpleasant, going from tapping, to pounding to scraping across my 'brain'.

"Well, good news…" she said after a while, pulling back from the computer. "I discovered a lot of things that didn't work."

"You really are a scientist." I grumbled as I poked at various science do-dads sticking out of me.

"Thank you," she said brightly, and I was honestly not sure if she actually took it as a complement. "In any case, this has helped me narrow down the frequencies and modulations used by your nanites connective fields. I think I'm also started to see the encryption coding that they're using; quantum waveform oscillation if I had to guess. Similar to what I kludged together for the Fog." She gave me an appraising look. "You said that you didn't get anything when you assimilated them, correct?"

"Pretty much." It had been several days, and I still didn't know what (if anything) I had gotten from the Fog nanites. I half suspected that given how my assimilation works, by physically mapping out the target's internals, other nanites were just too small to copy. But then, I still felt _something_ when I thought about it, scratching at the back of my mind but out of reach.

"Well, if my original assessment is correct, that is because you already have that ability." Serling pointed out. "You just can't actually use it for other reasons."

"Maybe, but what am I to do about it?"

"I have an idea," She said as she rifled around in her bag before she brought out a flash drive. "I needed to confirm just how your nanites were communicating, but since it is similar to what I've worked with I think I now know enough that can try communicating with them using similar coding."

"Hold up," Ted said. "Before you try that, I'd like to give Machina something first." He moved out of sight for a moment before he came back holding a small gunmetal box.

Serling arched an eyebrow. "And just what do you think you can accomplish?"

"Oh, you know, just mixing a few things together to make something new." He said with a grin before he looked at me. "I wanted to see if I could, let's call it, expand your mind." Ted said as he gestured. "If you can't automatically copy in software into your nanites, then perhaps we can give you the ability to do so manually. Your ability to interface with electronics already provides part of what we're looking for."

I nodded as I started to catch on. "You want to see if I can learn how to mentally parse and absorb pure data."

"And then apply it to the hardware configurations you already have." He confirmed. "If this works, there's a good chance you'll be able to write your own programing to shore up any gaps."

The thought made me chuckle a little. "My own Integrated Development Environment, huh? Machina Studios."

Ted chuckled at that as he held out the small box to me. "Well, first thing's first. This is a purely hardware based Internet Protocol Suite, along with a few data parsing algorithms. I'll admit that it was a bit novel to make, but I do not want to have to do this too often."

I perked up as I took it from him. "Does this mean I'll finally be able to connect to the internet?"

"It will work with most ISPs so long as they don't change their handshake protocols too much, but that shouldn't happen for a while." He said. "Just don't get a virus."

I let out a small chuckle myself before I consumed the box. I was still for a few seconds as I let the pattern settle into my body, and then formed the device inside of my head. I made a face as I started to fiddle with it.

"So, any luck?" Ted asked.

"Give me a minute," I replied. "It took me a day to figure out how to turn radio waves into sound, so this might take a bit."

I mentally prodded the device for anything to latch onto before I quickly found the radio receiver and focused on that. There was a clear signal in the lab, and I was getting _something_ from it… After a few seconds I had an idea and formed Amazo's processing system around it. Then, there was a moment of something snapping into focus and-

"Whoa!" I said as my vision filled with white. I blinked a few times and had to focus before the white pulled back and I was greeted with the image of… a search bar. Hesitantly, I focused on the bar and imagined a keyboard. Slowly, letters typed themselves out, and with a bit of mental effort, I found myself looking at the TV Tropes homepage.

"Yes!" I yelled as I fist pumped. "It worked! Kinda!"

Ted made a face. "What do you mean 'kinda'?"

"Well, I'm not exactly surfing along at the speed of thought, but I am connected." I said as I focused on mentally typing out Asimov's name. "To be honest, it'd be faster and easier for me to use a computer manually. But it's a start!"

The man's face twisted a little as he walked over to a laptop on the nearby table. "Glad to hear that, but I was hoping for a little more. I'm going to send you a data packet to see if you can parse it. Just need to find your connection on the network and… there."

A few seconds later I felt… the best way to describe it was as if a droplet of white noise splashed against my senses. It was barely noticeable, and by the time I sensed it the feeling was gone. "That was… odd. Do it again." Ted sent the packet a few more times, but the results were the same. "I'm getting the data, but I'm just not understanding it, even with advanced processes running."

"Damn, I was sure that would work." Ted said as he folded his arms. "Well, it was partially successful… maybe I just need to alter some parameters and encoding…"

"And while you are busy with that," Serling said in a loud voice, bringing our attention to her. "We can get back to the original plan."

I arched an eyebrow. "Which is going to be different from what you've been doing for the past two hours how, exactly?"

"I'm not going to try to send your body a command, it's already proven that it hates those. Instead I'm going to see if I can make it more of a suggestion." She gestured at the terminal screen. "This is the most basic diagnostic algorithm for a distributed neural net I could make. Hopefully this will give you something more than just a 'knock'."

Ted tilted his head to the side. "And why's that going to have more success?"

"Because a quantum waveform signaling is slightly closer to what those nanites use as oppose to binary." Serling remarked as she hammered out a few more key strokes. "Starting the signal in 3… 2… 1."

This time I felt not a knock, but more like a sort of pressure, a flow of water across my mind. It wasn't pleasant or unpleasant so much as just… there. On a whim, I tried to mentally follow the current and-

I drew in a sharp breath as my body started to writhe, my nanites shifting and moving in constant motion. The chittering sensation which had long since faded into the background had come back in force, and my awareness turned inward. I could still perceive around me, but it felt fuzzy and far away.

"Machina, are you alright?" I heard Serling ask, her voice sounding like it was through a filter. "Is it working?"

"I… am not sure." I said with a scratchy tone, looking at my arm as it rippled. "I am aware of myself. Like, more than usual. It's hard to describe."

"Hmm," Serling hummed as she looked at the screen. "Try forming something. Anything."

I held my arm out and formed a laser canon, but as soon as I finished it started to shift and change, its configuration continuously morphing. "That… huh." I said as I started to piece together what was happening. "It's like I'm pulling it apart and putting back together over and over again, looking at each piece and how they work and how they can go together."

"Couldn't you already do that?"

"Not to this extent, apparently. I'm not getting much new though, I've already analyzed my laser cannon quite a bit." Although… if that module can combine with that other module, maybe I could make a variable frequency modulating beam? Interesting.

"Well, then try forming something else." Ted suggested "Something with… I don't know, more potential."

I thought about that for a moment before the answer came to me. _At some point I'm going to find other tech as useful as this thing,_ I thought to myself as the aerokinetic core formed in my chest. Considering how damaged Mister Twister was when I consumed it, there was a good chance there was more to it I could figure out, even without having all of the control software. "I'm trying something with the core from that wind android I fought a few weeks back." I said, as I felt the core pull apart and shift around, and I started ticking off functions. "Alright… that handles electric potential, that's for pressure differentials, polarizing field, fluidics manipulation- wait, fluidics? Air is a fluid, but… oh you combine it with the pressure manipulator that that gets you-"

Then it clicked. "Oh, that's… so that's how… oh. Oh!" The realization hit me, and the idea crystallized instantly, my face splitting into a grin. "Holy shit."

"What? What is so damn amazing?" Serling asked.

"I figured out a new feature of the aerokinetic core." I said excitedly as I pulled the prongs out of my body, my form solidifying as I did so. Once done I started to hurry to the door. "And I know what I want to do with it. Get the outdoor testing area ready, I'll be back in half an hour!"

"What? Why half an hour?" Ted called out after me.

"Because I need to get an expert first!"

* * *

I knocked on the door, and after a moment I got a response. "Come in." Kori said, and I let myself into her room.

The dwelling was an interesting mix of purples and blues, the furnishing and draperies a few decades out of style. The walls had a number of posters that looked to be illustrations from pulp fantasy novels. Kori herself was lying atop a pile of blankets on her massive bed, and I could faintly hear the music playing from the headphones she pulled off her head.

' _When I look at you, I see the story in your eyes~_ '

' _When we're dancing, the Night Begins to Shine~_ '

Kori rolled over on her bed towards me. "So, what is it?"

"If you have some free time, could use a spotter."

Her brow furrowed. "What for? I thought that normal exercise was ineffective for you. Oh, is this a new function you've created?"

"No. Yes. Kinda," I said. "It's something I've just figured out something about the wind tech I got from Mister Twister."

She perked up. "You can now fully manipulate the wind?"

"No. Yes. Well, kinda. It's relevant." I sighed in exasperation. "I still can't make cyclones or the like, but I can configure a cannon such that I take in air and expel it." My right arm shifts to demonstrate, the arm cannon forming several intakes along the length and a semi-angular opening at the end. "Problem is that Newton's Third law applies. The knockback makes it impractical for most situations. But that's not that thing! It's buoyancy!"

"…You will have to elaborate for me."

"Back when we fought Mister Twister, I had wondered just how he was flying, because he clearly wasn't using cyclones or heavy winds to stay up like Red Tornado. It turns out it's because his aerokinetic core allowed him to manipulate his buoyancy in the air, giving him the ability to float, and then he used relatively light winds to push himself around. I can't do that, but I've already been practicing with the other thing, and now I can mix them both together, and I need your help to make sure I don't landscape myself!"

Kori got up off the bed and looked at me warily. "Jacob, what are you saying?"

I grinned, and all over my body, curving panels and control surfaces formed. Air intakes opened up between the panels and several main thrusters took shape on my back. A number of smaller ones were also created at various points on my frame, as well as the secondary ones on my feet and palms. As the aerokinetic core came to life in my chest, I pushed upwards and floated in the air.

"Kori… wanna help me learn how to fly?"

* * *

"WOOOOOOOOHHOOOOOOOO!"

I skimmed low across the ground, ducking left and right between the posts that littered the kilometer long 'obstacle course'. My control surfaces flared as I went into a roll to get through a series of hoops, but as I reached the end I found I had gained more lateral momentum than I intended and was about to scrap into a side wall. I adjusted my back thrusters and flipped forward, hitting the wall with my feet and sprinting forward until I had bled off the momentum and pushed back into the open air. I scraped underneath and overhang in doing so, but I continued towards the finish.

I probably wasn't flying with the most grace, even with this being my tenth time through the course, but I didn't really have time for that because holy shit I could fly!

Though it was some distance ahead, I could still clearly see Kori's fire trail. "Come on!" I heard her call, and I pushed myself a little harder. Under and over obstacles and around bends I flew, gradually getting the hang of manipulating all of my control surfaces and thrusters at once. I needed to use all of them, covering my body as they were, to give me the kind of maneuverability needed to match non-propellant flyers like Tamaranians, and that required some focus. I was doing better with it than I would have thought, but it was easy for me to make a mistake or lose focus on my surroundings.

Which is why I almost didn't notice that I had just about reached the finish line until I was only a dozen meter away from colliding with a stopped Kori. With a start I quickly veered off to the side and towards the ground. My feet made contact and I skipped a few times before I came to a stop. I froze where I was for a few seconds before I thrust my fists into the air. "Woo!"

The Tamaranian floated over to me with a bemused expression on her face. "A little rough, but you are learning quickly." She glanced back to where we had started. "Shall we head back to the others?"

"Sure, we could do that. Or, and hear me out here…"

"Yes?"

I leaned in close… and booped her on the nose. "You're it!" I said, and took off straight up. I just barely managed to hear a laugh before I sensed Kori coming up behind. I made it about 200 feet before cut off my thrust and turned, angling back downward towards the ocean before shooting off again. I cleared the cliff and pulled up in time to skim the ocean, following the curve of a wave with Kori close behind me.

We raced up and down the coast line, weaving around each other in circles and spirals as we avoided getting hit by ocean waves. It quickly became clear that while I was fast, the woman could beat me when it came to top speed. However, I could make harder turns than she could. This usually resulted in her getting close before I juked away at sharp angle.

Unfortunately, as I tried to do so when pulling back towards the facility, I then made a slight error with the aileron on my left shoulder, rolling me a little too far to make the turn. I turned up the one on my right to compensate, but it put me too far in the other direction, and I started tilt downward. What followed were a series of frantic corrections which only resulted in compounding errors, and in a matter of seconds I lost control completely and started tumbling head over heels straight at the cliff side.

"WOOOOOOOOOOHHHHSSSSHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"

Before I could hit though, I felt something roughly grab my back and yank me upwards, pulling me above the cliff. As I dangled, I looked up sheepishly. "Thank you, Kori."

"Tag." She replied with a smile before she let go, letting me drift away a few feet as she came to a stop. "While you are doing quite well for your first time flying, perhaps you should practice precision before speed."

"Yeah, yeah." I said, and we flew (slowly) back to the staging area where Ted and Serling were waiting for us. We landed on the platform next to them and I said "Well, I'll need some more practice, but otherwise I'm pretty god damn happy with this."

"Nice to know you're having fun." Serling said dryly as she glanced between myself and my teammate. "However, while this is good and all, I still have a number of tests run back in the lab with you."

Before I could say anything, Kori spoke first. "Jacob, it is approaching evening. We'll have to go soon."

I was about to protest before I remembered and nodded. "Right, we'll have to wrap this up."

"But we have so much science to do!" Ted insisted. "What could be more important than that?"

"The team is having dinner tonight." Kori said excitedly. "And it is my turn to cook!"

* * *

"Man, your powers are bullshit." Wally said with a frown.

"I know!" I replied cheerfully as the assembled team walked into the kitchen. "Isn't it great?"

Wally rolled his eyes, but he still said "Well, it'll be good to have another flyer on the team."

To my other side Superboy started to grumble, but he seemed to let it go. "So, what exactly are we having?" Superboy asked as he looked at Kori, who was pulling something out of the oven. "No offense, but I still don't know exactly what it was we had the last time you cooked."

"Fear not, for since then I have made study of human cookery!" Kori said as she placed a pie on the countertop. "However, I could not decide on the vast selection of choices before me, so I made everything!" Kori exclaimed as gestured to the countertop, which was covered end to end in… food. I mean, it definitely was food, just slightly odd. "First there is the chicken and waffle lasagna, then the nacho pizza, then the strawberry-kiwi-blackberry-lime-rubarb pie!"

Kaldur made a face. "Koriand'r, I do not presume to know what cooking on your home planet is like, but I don't think you can just mash everything you like together and expect it to turn out well."

Wally on the other hand had a differing opinion. "Clearly you have no taste. If happiness was edible, this would be it!"

Kori perked up at the praise. "Thank you Wally. Though if you don't want what I have laid out, I have also put out the ingredients for sandwiches."

"Oh thank god…" Artemis muttered before she said more loudly. "Yes that will be fine."

The lot of us grabbed something and moved into the adjoining dining room tosit at the table, the team filling up their plates with various degrees of enthusiasm. Artemis, who had sat down next to me, looked around in confusion for a moment. "So, I'm only seeing bread and condiments. Where are-" she cut herself off as she looked at Kori, who was currently making herself a mustard sandwich. "…of course. Never mind." She said with a grumble.

I leaned towards her a bit. "Regret joining our little madhouse?"

(Meanwhile, Kori began poking at the various food topping she didn't have a firm grasp on yet. "What is the tan thing?" She asked. "Horseradish" M'gann told her. The other girl gave it a taste before she smiled and dropped it on to her sandwich.)

Artemis snorted. "So long as I don't have to eat like this every day." She said as she gingerly picked up a slice of pizza. "I don't think my arteries could take it. Besides, my costume would _not_ be flattering if I gained weight."

"Ah, yes, it takes a very specific figure to rock the combat halter-top." I remarked. "Figure or not, you certainly are a firm believer in the power of your uterus force."

("And the green slurry?" "Relish" "Novel, but good!")

Artemis looked at me like I was nuts and said "My _what_?"

"You know, the energy field all women produce from their uterus. I mean, why else would you leave your midriff unprotected unless you had a strong energy field protecting it?"

Kori perked up at that. "Human women really have a defensive field around their middle?"

"No!" Artemis exclaimed before she looked back at me. "Don't you go filling her head with lies. And my outfit is plenty practical! It's designed around freedom of movement and mobility. Besides, Kori's outfit covers even less than mine!"

"Yes, but A. she can take small arms fire without much issue, and B. she absorbs ultraviolet light through her skin to power her abilities." I cast a glance at the Tamaranian. "To be honest I'm surprised that you don't wear less."

"Mostly because I do not have to." She replied. "The material my consume is made out of is permeable by most bands of ultraviolet, so in effect it is like I am wearing nothing at all. I was told that the fabric is very similar to what Superman uses for this costume."

Superboy grunted. "Cadmus gave me something similar to that, a solar suit that could store solar energy. It got destroyed though."

Artemis paused before she looked back at me. "As I was saying, my costume is fine."

("And the white paste?" "Mayonnaise" "Filling!")

My mouth twisted a little. "I'm just a bit worried is all. Most of the team is super durable. If you get hit by a stray bullet in an area that could have been protected…"

She sighed. "I get enough worrying from my mother. Look, all of my training has been about staying out of the way of incoming attacks, and adding layers of armor would slow me down an compromise that. I know what I'm doing, so don't you go all… all big brother on me."

"I promise nothing." I said. "In fact, it takes every last bit of my willpower not to tussle your hair like the adorable rapscallion that you are." I was still for a moment before I slowly started to reach for Artemis's head.

The girl narrowed her eyes and grabbed my arm, forcing it back down to my side. "Aww…" I said in disappointment before I hung my head.

("What's this?" "It looks like tofu. Not really a topping, but I doubt that would stop you.")

Artemis rolled her eyes before she glanced around the table, her gaze lingering on Superboy before she turned back to me and spoke in a low tone. "So, I was wondering… is-"

The sound of glass hitting the table brought my attention back to Kori, who had dropped the tofu container. She twitched slightly as she pulled the spoon out of her mouth, and it looked like she was fighting to control her stomach. It passed after a moment though, and she noticed everyone staring at her. "Ah," she said hesitantly. "I… don't think I like this."

"Oh, well most people don't eat it plain." Wally said. "Why don't you try it with-"

"No, no, I think I'll let that one be." She said.

Conversation moved back to its normal flow after that, but I kept staring at Kori. To everyone else she was normal, but to my eyes… I had been around Kori enough to see how the patterns of light beneath her skin change depending on her mood. Slow and flowing when she was relaxed, quick and rippling when she was in combat. And at that moment they were flaring erratically with no signs of stopping. There were other things as dinner went on, how she was a little less animated, a little less enthusiastic. A tenseness in the muscles of her shoulders and a slight paleness of skin.

Eventually dinner wound down to a close, and Wally stretched and sighed. "And don't know about you guy's but I think sunset here did a great job." He said, grinning at Kori. "So, we're watching a movie next, right? What have we got, a comedy? That new dystopian-world cop action flick?"

"Nah, tonight we're watching a classic." Robin said with a grin. "The Grey Ghost: Mask of the Wraith."

"That old thing again? Come on, man." Wally complained.

"Hey, some of the people here haven't seen it yet, so we're going to fix that!" The boy insisted as he got up from the table and grabbed his plate.

Kori stood up and took it from him. "Do not worry, I shall handle the cleanup. You can go and start the movie without me."

Everyone gave their thanks and they shuffled out of the dining room, but I hung back. The last one out was M'gann, who paused in the doorway to the room, looking at Kori with concern before her eyes turned to me. A shared look between us told me that she had noticed something was amiss as well. I hesitated for a moment before I gave her a small nod. Her mouth pressed a little tighter, but she nodded in kind before she walked out.

I turned and walked towards Kori, stopping next to her as she stacked plates. "Are you alright?"

"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?" She said as another dish clacked into place. "Go to the others, otherwise you will miss some of the show."

I leaned on the counter a bit. "You've been keyed up ever since you took a bite of that tofu, like you're ready to bolt. That's kind of an extreme reaction for not liking the taste of something."

Her motions slowed a little before she waved me off. "It… is nothing. Trust me, I'll be fine."

"Oh, I see how it is." I said with mock anger. "Any time _you_ say its fine we can let it go, but anytime _I_ say it…"

"What? No I…" she started, but stopped as she couldn't find the words. She tried to start again a few times, but finally her shoulders slumped and she stared down at plates. A long moment later she quietly said "It reminded me of the gruel they fed me."

It took me a second to realize what she was talking about, but when it hit my eyes widened and I pulled her into a hug. She didn't quite return it, but she leaned against me as she continued. "It was the only thing I ate for years. In truth, I probably ate better than most Citadelian prisoners due to my status, but I hated that slop. I never thought I would taste it again."

"It'll be alright. You'll never have to go through that again."

" _I know_. But… One taste and I remembered it so strongly. I thought I had put it past me, but I suppose I was wrong."

"Kori, one bad moment doesn't mean that. In light of what happened to you, I'd say you've been doing extremely well."

"But what of you?" She asked. "I have not seen you succumb like this."

I shifted uncomfortably. "I'm… not a great example. It hasn't really hit me yet." This was true. I know what would have to happen before I truly accepted the situation I was in, but it was easily avoided. I just... don't think about it. "Just trust me on this one, okay?"

She made a soft sound at that. "You said I was stronger than what happened to me."

"And you are. Doesn't mean that it means nothing to you."

For a second, she was still. When she pulled back I got a look at her face, and in that moment she looked absolutely miserable. _It's amazing how expressive those eyes can be_. To anyone else they might have seemed almost solid green, but to me her irises nearly glowed that close up. "I miss my home." She whispered.

My heart ached at that, because there was nothing I could do to fix it. There was little I wouldn't have done at that moment if it meant I could make the woman in front of me her joyful self again. But I had no words, no actions that were good enough. Eventually, all I could say was "I do too." The one thing I could do was be there.

It would have to do. It was all I had.

A small, sad smile tugged at the corners of her lips before she leaned forward, touching her forehead against mine. We stayed like that for a long moment before we pulled apart and she took a deep breath. "Now, let us clean this up."

And so, we finished up and watched the movie. And for then, it was enough.

=====A=====


	24. 7-1

=====A=====

The punches came in at a steady rhythm, pushing me back towards the edge of the sparring ring. For once I couldn't simply weather the blows, seeing as how they were coming from a half-Kryptonian, so I had to focus on dodging and parrying instead. I swatted the next two punches to the side before he came in with a much heavier strike. This time I stepped in and grabbed his shoulder, using him as a lever as I flipped into the air landed on the other side of him. He turned quickly but I was already putting some distance between us. Normally I would have gone for the grapple, but considering I was limiting myself to a strictly human form, I did not want to try that with a stronger opponent.

While the majority of my training was focused on shapeshifting and using that to its full extent, I had not completely abandoned human form martial arts. If nothing else, practicing helped me keep in mind how human opponents would move when fighting them. So, when I happened to be walking by the sparring ring and Superboy asked for a few rounds, I decided to keep my human form. Of course, considering that Superboy had been putting in far more hours with Black Canary than I had been, and he was legitimately stronger than me, it meant that I was not having an easy time of it.

But that didn't mean I couldn't mix things up a bit. A punch came in straight and I swatted it to the side, a last moment flick of my wrist imparting enough force to twist his body awkwardly to the side. As he tried to regain his balance I stepped in and grabbed his exposed side with my other hand before simply twisting my arm. While I was staying human in terms of form and mechanical motion, my internals were such that I could generate a massive amount of torque from small movements. Superboy flipped in the air before tumbling to the ground, but he wasted no time in getting to his feet and coming at me again. For this fight we had removed knockdown as a win condition, as was the usual when I was involved. It may have had something to do with the last time I had spared with Black Canary…

* * *

 _"…_ _I don't think you are abiding by the spirit of the rules here." Black Canary said as she folded her arms across her chest._

 _"_ _Hey, you're the one who said that we fight until one of us is knocked on our ass." I said, the source of my voice not visible as I had turned into a literal giant ball of spikes. "After all, how can you knock me on my ass WHEN I DON"T HAVE AN ASS?! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!"_

 _I then started rolling after her and chased her around the ring for five minutes until she gave up._

* * *

Setting Superboy off balance wasn't my only goal though, not exactly. By using these moves I wanted to get Superboy thinking about super strength and leverage, and just how little a person like him actually needed to move to exert force. I wanted him to try to emulate me. Now, I was doing things with my internals that let me cheat, but I didn't think he knew that. And if he tried to do it anyway… well, providing impossible leverage was one of the main features of telekinesis after all.

This time when he came at me he kept a much lower stance, feinting a punch to my head before kicking my knee. As I feel to the ground I tried sweeping out with my leg, but he jumped over the strike. I continued my rotation into a sort of improvised break dancer move, getting up onto my hands as I rotated.

Unfortunately, while my improved sense of balance and strength made the motions technically easy, I had never actually trained in how to make the moves reasonable in combat. Superboy reached out and grabbed my extended leg, spinning me in a circle before hurling me clear out of the ring. I tumbled along the ground for a second before I came to a stop on my back, and the hologram buzzed red with my defeat. Superboy stood over me and dusted off his hands. "Black Canary taught me that one."

I frowned as took his hand and got to my feet. "She taught you how to defend against Capoeira fighters?"

"No, but she did teach me how to counter people with unnecessarily flashes moves." He said with a smirk.

I grumbled at that, disappointed that I had gotten knocked out so early in the round. Especially by my own failure rather than Superboy trying something new. _I'll have to be more careful next time_ , I thought. "Yeah, well, I had to handicap myself somehow." I said as I patted him on the shoulder. "Didn't want to embarrass you with all the girls watching." I pointed off to the side of the ring where Kori, M'gann and Artemis were watching from. Kori was leaning against M'gann and smiled when I looked over at her, and M'gann was blushing lightly.

For her part, Artemis was grinning as she looked Superboy and I up and down. "There is nothing about this scene I don't love."

The attention may have had something to do with how Superboy was topless. And how I was at my most human form, 'wearing' nothing but some shapeshifted spandex-like shorts (after all of my effort to make artificial skin, shapeshifting spandex-like membranes was easy).

It felt a little odd for a girl to look at me like that (and not just because she was sixteen). Before my transformation I considered myself to be reasonably well looking, but I was never the type to turn heads. I wondered when I started to garner that sort of female attention.

 _Perhaps when you started spending hours crafting a human form that was your idealized paragon of masculinity?_ A thought came from the back of my mind.

Oh, right. That.

"Why you gotta make things weird, Artemis?" I said as I walked over to them. "I mean, it's like you're implying that a pair of half-naked friendly men wrestling around is something more than just wholesome fun."

She smirked as she cocked her hip out to the side. "You said it, not me. Besides, I think we all saw what was going on between you two in that ring."

I was about to respond, but Kori interjected. "Yes, they were forging even deeper bonds of comradery and friendship. Men back on Tamaran used wresting to improve relations to this effect. Though they often don't bother with clothes at all."

Artemis was silent for a long moment before she muttered "Damn, I really need to visit some time…"

"Can we please stop talking about naked dudes?" I looked to the side to see Wally and Kaldur standing nearby, the former seemingly put off from eating the rest of his burrito. "No one wants to hear about that."

I arched an eyebrow. "You're looking at one right now."

"What? No I'm-" His eyes widened as realized what I meant as looked away from me. "Damnit, now I can't unsee it!"

Artemis chuckled before she looked back at me. "Always kinda wondered about that… M'gann's got her bio-clothes, but this is all you, isn't it?"

I shrugged. "Clothes are just kind of impractical for me. If I had shapeshifting clothes I didn't have to worry about accidently eating I'd wear them."

"Me too. It's hard enough finding gear that both fits right and doesn't chaff from long use." She looked at Kori. "Hat's off to whoever makes your bra, by the way."

"I do not wear a bra."

Artemis looked at her incredulously before her gaze wandered down to the Tamaranian's rather ample chest. After a moment she looked away with a scowl and folded her arms. "Oh that is just bullshit!"

Our attention was then brought upward as the large circular aperture in the ceiling opened up, and Red Tornado came drifting down on a tiny whirlwind, his arms folded across his chest. As far as I knew he was purely mechanically, but when he started reminding me of a Djinn it always caused me to wonder. As he landed he started to walk away without a word, but Wally zipped up to him before he could leave. "Yo, you got a mission for us?"

The android's answer was rather predicable by this point. "Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility."

"Yeah, well 'the Batman's' with 'the Robin' doing the dynamic duo thing in Gotham. But you're going somewhere, right? Hot date? Or a mish-shon?"

Koriand'r gave the boy a look. "If you are so eager for an assignment, I am sure that we can find something worthy of our time and effort on our own."

I cupped my chin in thought. The idea that the team would start picking our own missions at some point had occurred to me, but I hadn't considered doing it so soon. That said, the Mountain's main computer did have access to enough information and current event data to make that possible if we wanted. Either Robin or myself would have to set up the right algorithms and alerts to pick out objectives that the team would be interested in to then bring to the team. Given that this was my fulltime job, it would probably be me, though it would be wise to insure that someone else could do it too.

"Wait." My attention was brought back to Red Tornado as he held up a hand. He looked at us for a moment longer before he turned and waved his hand, holograms popping up in response. "This is Kent Nelson, a friend." He said, and the image of an elderly man with a cane and a plain brown suit appeared. "He is 106 years old. And he has been missing for twenty three days. Kent was a charter member of the Justice Society, the precursor to the Justice League."

As he said this, the image of Nelson shifted and a uniform covered his body. It was blue and gold, and in addition to the flowing cape, he now wore a distinctive gold helm. It wasn't hard for me to remember just who Nelson was.

Kaldur recognized him as well. "Of course, Nelson Earth's Sorcerer Supreme. He was Doctor Fate!"

 _Wait, they have Sorcerer Supremes here?_ I thought in confusion. _I thought that was a Marvel thing…_

Next to me, I heard Wally scoff as he leaned in and whispered to Artemis. "More like Doctor Fake. Guy knows a little advanced science and 'Dumbledore's' it up to scare the bad guys and to impress the babes."

I frowned as I looked towards him. "The man fought beside Diana in World War Two, I'm pretty sure he's the real deal."

Red Tornado apparently heard my comment as he then said "That is true. Shortly after the formation of the Society, they had joined the war to create the All Star Squadron, as they determined the Axis powers to be detrimental to civilization." The picture changed, and an old image appeared of the Squadron. Featured front and center was Diana shaking hands with a woman with long hair in a domino mask, with Doctor Fate standing behind them. Around her were a few heroes I recognized as well. It was hard to mistake Jay Garrick and his winged hat for anyone else, and Alan Scott's ring was clearly visible on his finger. There were a few more I didn't know though, and I resolved to study them later.

Turning back to us, Red Tornado continued. "Kent may simply be on one of his… walkabouts. But he is caretaker to the Helmet of Fate, the source of the Doctor's mystic might, and it is unwise to leave such power unguarded."

M'gann perked up. "He's like the great sorcerer-priests and priestesses of Mars. I would be honored to lend my assistance."

Wally started to say something, but I beat him to it. "There are Martian sorcerers?"

"Hm? Oh yes! Red Martians are capable of channeling magic. They act as our beacons and guides to the Higher Plane, bridging the gap between the physical and immaterial."

"Interesting…" I said. It occurred to me that I didn't actually know that much about Martian culture and society. I had been taken a little off guard when I had arrived here to learn that the Martian civilization was actually still very much alive, but there wasn't a lot of information about them on the League's database (I did get a few early pictures of J'onn in his Martian form though. God _damn_ is he intense looking). It occurred to me that I probably could have asked M'gann at some point, but to be honest I occasionally forgot she isn't human. Not sure if that says more about me or her. "Only Red Martians though?"

She shifted. "Yes. Only they have the lineage needed to properly channel arcane energy."

I gave a small hum at that before I said "Well, I'd love to hear more about it. I'm curious how Martian magic differs from human systems."

While most of my studies up to that point had been focused on technological areas, I had taken a look at what information I could get on the subject of magic. Which was unfortunately not much. My main sources of information were still the League database and the internet, and magic practitioners had not really gotten around to digitizing their work yet. Fortunately, Kaldur had been very helpful in giving me a very broad overview of what he had learned in the Conservatory of Sorcery.

Fun fact, it turned out that standard Atlantian magic use was actually a very advanced and refined form of geomancy. The ocean floor was littered with mana pockets and leylines to be tapped, and the various Atlantian city states had constructed facilities to extract and refine the energy. The tattoos that every fledgling sorcerer gets (which were not as solid as they looked and were actually very dense arcane circuitry) double as both a control mechanism and an antenna, receiving energy from these stations. I had asked Kaldur if there was a maximum range to this, but he didn't know.

"Jacob," My attention turned to Kori, whose brow was slightly furrowed. "I have been hearing certain terms used since I have arrived to this planet, but I am still not sure exactly what they refer to. Considering what I have been just told, I think I need clarification before we procced."

"What is it?"

"What do humans mean when they use the term 'magic'? Is it a certain kind of meta-human trait, or something else?"

I arched an eyebrow as I tried to remember if Tararanians as a culture had ever had any exposure to magic, but I came up with nothing. Aliens and magic in the DC universe was kind of weird, in that usually they either explicitly rejected it or embraced it. Middle of the road was not really talked about (or at least I didn't remember it). I guessed from her question that Tamaran wasn't really magically active.

Before I could figure out how to respond though, Kaldur spoke up. "I have studied magic and it nature, and it is what fuels my powers. Magic is the manipulation of arcane energy to alter the world and manifest effects, which can be nearly anything you can imagine."

Kori frowned a little more. "So… it is a metahuman power which can manipulate this 'arcane energy'?"

"Ah, not exactly. There are many regular humans and non-humans that can use magic as well. While certain magic abilities can be inborn, it can also be learned as well. In that case, consciousness and willpower are key factors in its use."

"So… it is a form of psychic powers then?"

"Not… exactly. It, uh…"

Kaldur hesitated, and I raised my hand. "I think I know how to explain this." I said, and everyone looked at me. "In this context, magic is the manifestation of forces which are based in the metaphysical rather than physical. Metahuman abilities are all based in physical phenomena, chemistry, biology, physics… like technology. Psychic powers I am less clear on, but I believe they are at least partially based in physics as well. Magic on the other hand stems from concepts, ideals, imagination. It can be used to make physical effects like moving water or creating lightning" I gestured at Kaldur, "But it ultimately stems from very non-physical things. Things most heavily tied to magic are things like gods, elementals, spirits-"

She perked up at that "Oh, you mean like Spiritcraft!"

I blinked. What? "Uh, maybe?"

"What is Spiritcraft?" M'gann asked, her curiosity piqued.

"It is how Tamaranians of old communed and drew power from our world. At least, that is what the myths say." She said as she turned to the Martian. "To be honest, the Age of Spirits was so long ago that no one knows if our legends of the time are fact or fiction. Some historians feel that the accurate history of our world only goes back to the beginning of the Age of X'Hal."

"X'Hal?"

Kori brightened. "She is the goddess of my people, a beacon of love and life in the universe. We have records of when and how she came to Tamaran and blessed it with her presence."

I remembered next to nothing about X'hal other than that she wasn't quite as benevolent as Kori was making her out to be, but I was already on shaky ground when it came to my meta-knowledge, so I didn't worry about it. "So, the Age of Spirits…"

She looked at me. "Myths say that in the old days of Tamaran, the world was full of spirts of nature. Spirits of the jungles, the rivers, the mountains, ranging from small enough to hide in a puddle to large enough to move islands. Tamaranian shamans, and to extant normal people, could bond with these spirits and gain great powers. In exchange spirit gained some of our vitality and energy, thus experiencing life as we did. Together those bound would become something greater than the sum of their parts."

"Huh…" I said. "I'd have to check again, but that does sound similar to some human traditions."

"That is certainly interesting, but to be honest I do not think I would be able to truly appreciate it." Kori said. "Like I have said, Spriticraft is purely in the realm of myth for my people, and only certain sects and scholars fully remember the old ways. Remembering a set of rites and rituals that speak to spirits that do not listen is not a terribly useful skill."

"What do you mean 'do not listen'?" M'gann asked.

Kori hesitated for a moment before she continued. "While the details are not clear, scholars agree that there was a great war in our early history. During the periods which our sun becomes hyper-active, on average only one or two Tamaranians will ascend to become Radiant Ones. But once long ago… there were five."

My eyebrows rose as I said "I take it they did not play nice."

She shook her head. "When there are multiple Roshak'ar, it is not uncommon for them to come into conflict, and this was no exception. Each one vied for dominance, and the devastation wrought by their conflict was massive. According to the legends, this was made worse by their use of spirits. Spirits are attracted to those whose soul shines brightest, and whose soul shines brighter than a Radiant One's? They could bind themselves to more powerful spirits and in greater numbers, and the tales of their use in battle are awe inspiring."

She made a gesture. "When the War of Five reached its end, the spirits of Tamaran, horrified and disgusted at the destruction they caused, turned away from mortals and decided to leave them to their own fate. The old ways have been useless since, for they fall on deaf ears." She shrugged. "At least, that is how the story goes. I supposed if it is true, I would take solace in the fact that despite our misdeeds X'hal still found it in her heart to love us as she does."

I hummed as I thought about this. _I suppose I need to get used to learning bits of lore that were absent from the comics_. I was silent for a moment longer before I said "Interesting. In any case, yes, Spiritcraft is likely a form of magic."

Kori nodded. "Thank you for the clarification. I am sure that it is more obvious to those of you that live here, but there are so many… unique abilities and powers on this planet, it is difficult to keep them straight. I suppose it is natural that Earth science would be reflective of such 'arcane' phenomena."

"Science isn't magic!"

We all turned back to look at Wally, who was frowning at the lot of us. "Science has rules and actually makes sense! Magic is a bunch of superstitions and mysteries that have never been proven true!"

M'gann put on a mildly hurt look. "You... don't believe in magic, Wally?"

The boy gave a start as he realized he might have lost a few points with the girl. "Uh, I mean, how can science compare to the amazing mysteries of the mystic arts?"

My mouth twisted. "Wally, 30 seconds ago you thought that Dr. Fate was faking it _A la_ the Wizard of Oz."

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Alright, Fine. I don't believe in magic!"

"…You're serious?" I asked the superhero incredulously.

"Of course I am! What about you?!" He said as he pointed a finger at me. "You've been studying science non-stop since you got here! How can you believe in magic?"

"Well, for starters…" I pointed at Kaldur. "We have a magic user on our team. And for another thing, I've been on patrol with a woman who was sculpted out of clay 85 years ago and comes from an island of immortal warrior women. And thirdly, the League has operating procedures when dealing with magic phenomenon. So, yeah… pretty sure magic is real."

Wally waved his hand dismissively. "That- those are just weird, not magical! The League has contingences for every possible situation, including impossible ones, Amazons are likely just a type of Metahuman who got poetic when describing where Wonder Woman came from, and Kaldur just uses bio-electricity!"

I gave him a flat look. "Wow… you really don't think that highly of Kaldur, do you?"

"What? What the hell are you talking about?"

"For one thing, I've done physical scans on Kaldur's body, and he doesn't have any biological mechanism to generate electricity. And for another thing, do you honestly think a civilization that has existed for thousands of years is so dumb as to not know the difference between bio-electricity and magic? They practically mathematized the field for god's sake!"

I planted my hands on my hips. "So, what I'm asking is do you think Kaldur is lying or an idiot?"

Wally went red and stuttered as he responded. "I- but that- that's not what I meant! I just meant that everything can be explained by science!"

I tilted my head. "Of course it can. But why does that mean magic isn't real?"

He gapped at me for a few seconds before he yelled in frustration and walked away. It was a moment before Kaldur spoke. "Jacob, you did not need to be so harsh. If Wally has never had any exposure to magic, it is understandable that he would be skeptical of it. I am not offended by his belief."

I shifted a little. "Sorry, but that was still a dumb thing for him to say."

Red Tornado tilted his head. "I suppose he will be receiving firsthand experience shortly." A compartment opened on his side and he pulled out an ornate golden key. "This is the key to the Tower of Fate. Go there and inquire the whereabouts of Kent Nelson, and insure the Helmet's safety. We shall see if Kid Flash's disbelief persists after that."

* * *

We got underway shortly after that, heading for Salem, Massachusetts (I guess doctor Fate was a traditionalist). On the way there, I got to have M'gann give me an overview of Martian magic use. As the name 'sorcerer-priest' implied, magic was mostly used within the context of their religion. They did not have a god or worship a higher power exactly, but rather practiced a form of ancestor worship. According to her, when Martians die their spirits 'become as one in the Dreaming'. Sorcerer-priests could connect to this Will of Mars, and through it draw power from the realm of dreams. Thus their magic revolved around thoughts, perceptions, and bridging the gap between the real and unreal.

I wonder if Morpheus hangs out on Mars often?

It was night by the time we found ourselves in Salem, and Moya dropped us off in an alleyway near the address. When we got there though…

"I see nothing." Kori said as she glanced around the small park. I say park, but really it was just a square empty lot with some grass. "Perhaps it is hidden from normal sight?"

I shook my head. "If so, I'm not seeing anything either. Red Tornado did say that it was in the middle of the lot, right?" Because it would be really embarrassing if it turned out that 'Tower of Fate' was just a title and Kent Nelson actually lived in that really tall book store on the other side of the street.

"He did. Spread out and see if you can find any entrance or sign of what we are to do."

As the lot of us moved about, I felt some mild concern that we were drawing attention to ourselves. Yes, the team was still in their civies as this wasn't an official mission as such, but at least three of us were a rather unusual color. The town was dark and quiet though, and as far as I could tell there was no one else around.

After a few minutes, Wally finished another circuit of the lot and zipped back to the main group. "I've gone up and down this place like 5 times, there's nothing here."

"So, what do you think-" Artemis started to say with a smirk, but Kaldur stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder, shaking his head as she turned to look at him. She frowned, but simply looked away and said nothing else.

Satisfied, Kaldur pulled out the key that Red Tornado had given him. "Perhaps we are making this more complicated than it needs to be…"

He then walked forward a few paces with his arm extended, and sure enough part of the key in his hand disappeared into thin air. He gave it a twist, and rippling outward from the point of contact the veil disappeared. In a matter of seconds there was a massive stone tower looming in the center of the park, at least a hundred feet tall and topped with parapets and banners. The structure was square and looked to be from the middle ages.

We all stared up at it in wonder for a few moments before I said "So… does this happen every time Kent Nelson walks in the door? Can everyone around here see this thing? Are they just used to a giant tower popping in and out of existence?"

I heard Wally snort and mutter "Probably just phasing tech combined with a variable range cloaking field…" The double doors in front of us swung open, revealing an old fashioned but well-furnished foyer. Kaldur took a hesitant step in, and the rest of the team followed.

I walked in behind them, but I stopped on the threshold. I stared after them for a moment as they walked into the Tower before I frowned and spread my arms. "Guys," I said, drawing their attention to me. I reached over and pulled the key out of the door. "Come on people, don't just leave the key in the lock." I said as I closed the door behind me. "Who knows who would just wander in."

=====A=====


	25. 7-2

=====A=====

The foyer was very wide with torches lining the stone walls, though none of them seemed to be lit. Nevertheless the hallway was well illuminated, showing off the tapestries and statues that lined either side. What wasn't shown however was a way out of the room.

Before anyone could say anything though, a soft glow of yellow light appeared in front of us. It formed the shape of the man we had been sent to find, though far more yellow and glowing. " _You have the Key, but the Tower does not recognize you,_ " The image of Kent Nelson said, it's voice slightly gravely. " _Who are you and what is your purpose here?_ "

Kori stepped in front of the group. "Spirit of the Tower, we were tasked by Red Tornado to find Kent Nelson. He has been missing for some time." She said. Red Tornado had mentioned that the Tower was 'active', but I hadn't realized it could talk. I think he would have mentioned if the building was fully aware, but either way we should probably be as straightforward as possible with it. The android had mentioned something about pits of lava…

The image was still for a moment before it said " _Kent is not in the Tower at this moment. He has been absent from these grounds for some time._ "

"We had assumed this was the case," Kaldur said. "Can you tell us where he is now? Or what he was doing last before he disappeared?"

" _Kent did not confide in the Tower as to the purpose of his last excursion. However, 24 days ago his cane materialized in the Tower without him, indicating that he either sent it back or that it was separated from him._ "

"Damn, you don't think he might have…" Wally trailed off as he noticed the looks we were giving him. "What, he's over a century old! I can't have been the only one thinking it."

Unperturbed by Wally's implication, the image said. " _The Tower would know if the current owner of the Helmet of Fate had passed. Kent Nelson is still alive, but his whereabouts are unknown._ "

Behind the magical hologram the wall opened, bricks folding back out of sight to let a soft light into the hallway. " _However, if you are serious about finding him, his cane is capable of locating him via his astral signature. While actions are limited, the Tower can show you the way to where it is being kept._ "

The wall finished opening to reveal a massive chamber that must have larger than the tower we were inside of considering I couldn't see the walls. The entire space was filled with stairways and platforms, connecting at impossible angles and fading off into the hazy yellow distance. A few of the landings had more intricate architecture with arcs and pillars and doors to nowhere that blended and twisted in on themselves. I had seen some pretty wild stuff since I had first arrived in this universe, but I was still seeing new things that filled me with a sense of wonder.

…And yet the first thing I said after taking that in was "Is every magical tower required to have an M.C. Escher room? I mean, it's really impressive, but this can't possibly be the most practical."

" _If you know of a better way of maintaining a dimensional hub between multiple sub-dimensions with different Euclidian structures while keeping it navigable and non-hostile to human life, the Tower would love to know about it._ "

Apparently 'the Tower' was aware enough to get snippy.

The apparition gestured, pointing at a particular doorway some distance away. " _Through that gate you will find the cane, and with the cane you shall locate Kent._ "

Kori inclined her head. "Thank you, Spirit of the Tower. We are also here to insure the safety of the Helmet of Fate. Could you show us the way to it as well?"

" _The Helmet is here, but only the current owner can open that way. You must find Kent Nelson first._ "

Superboy grunted. "Kinda defeats the point of keeping it safe until we find the guy."

"Maybe, but this place looks pretty secure to me." I said. "And if the cane works as advertised, we should be finding the man shortly. What are the odds that-" I stopped, my mouth snapping shut.

Artemis slowly turned her head towards me, her mouth pressed in a thin line. I stared back at her for a moment before I said "I didn't finish saying it, it doesn't count."

She opened her mouth to respond, but at that moment the apparition's eyes snapped to a spot just behind us, and at the same time my blindsight picked up a sort of ripple close to the floor. An instant later a small form shot through our legs before stopping at the top of the closest stairway (I did not jump in surprise when this happened). It was an orange tabby cat, though its ears were unusually pointed and its eyes glowed a malevolent red. It hissed as us before it bolted through the nearest portal and vanished.

The image of Kent Nelson turned to us. " _Did you bring that creature here?_ "

Kori shook her head. "No, we have never seen it before. What was it?"

After a long moment of looking at us the image said " _You seem to be speaking truthfully… It is likely this is an intrusion by an outside force, by one seeking to claim the Helmet for themselves. The scent of chaos magic was thick on that creature. It was likely a familiar._ "

Artemis looked back at me. "I'm blaming you for this."

"Oh quiet you." I grumbled before faced the image. "How did it get in? I closed the door." I was also concerned at how my blindsight completely failed to see it until the last instant, but I suspected that answer would be some variation on 'magic'.

" _Unknown, though perhaps it slipped through your legs._ "

"Well, alright, but it's just a cat though," Wally said. "You can handle the fur ball, right?"

" _On its own, yes. However, if it is a familiar of another mage it is possible that it could be used as a sort of beacon to breach the defenses of the Tower. While it cannot summon its master into the tower proper, it may find one of the tower's many… alternate entrances and open the way from there. I would advise that you find it quickly, there is no telling how soon it will find a connecting reality that it can access._ "

I sighed. "For once I had hoped that one of these outings wouldn't result in an impromptu mission."

"Perhaps someday." Kori said before she turned to look at all of us, her demeanor shifting to something more serious. "We split into teams, Balanced-Two. Team Alpha will hunt down the intruder and prevent them from making a breaching point. Team Beta will search for the cane and if possible Nelson."

We nodded as we split into groups. It had come up in training that for our team size it would be useful to form sub-teams when the situation required it, and we had worked out a few compositions. Balanced-Two put Kori and Kaldur at the head of each four man squad, with myself, M'gann, and Artemis under Kori, and Robin, Superboy and Wally under Kaldur. Robin was there, but Kaldur's team was less likely to need the extra man.

"How come Jacob gets to go with the girls?" Wally muttered before a thought occurred to him. "Wait, if you guys are chasing someone, don't you want the fastest guy on the team with you?"

Kori hesitated for a moment before she nodded. "Good point. Artemis, switch with Wally." She looked at M'gann. "I do not know how well any of our communication will hold up inside the Tower, so we should use every method we have. Link us up."

M'gann nodded and closed her eyes. A moment later she opened them and looked around, the rest of the team nodding. I doubted the link would hold up when we started jumping through portals, but it was worth a shot.

Starfire floated into the air. "Right. Team, go!"

We bolted up the stairs and split off into our respective teams, each heading towards our own archway. Hopefully we'd be able to catch that damn cat quickly.

* * *

 _5 minutes later_

* * *

"Down there, aisle 5464!" I yelled as I ran full tilt on top of the bookcase, jumping over to the next one as I tried to keep sight of the fleeing cat amid the labyrinthine library.

" _Dude, that doesn't help when the damn bookcases keep moving around and changing numbers!_ " Kid Flash yelled over coms. " _I'm in aisle… are those wingdings?! What the hell is wrong with this place?!_ "

I lost sight of the cat again as it sprinted into an open area lined with tables. I saw Starfire flying in from the other side to corner it, but I only managed to catch a brief glimpse of it as it shot out from underneath a table and through another glowing archway.

Starfire floated to a stop next to it. "Curses… well, we were not having much luck in this place in any case. What kind of librarian could manage such a repository of books?"

I landed next to her with a thud. "Ook."

She looked at me in confusion, but before she could say anything out attention was brought upwards by a scream, followed by Miss Martian being chased by a flock of flying books.

* * *

 _5 more minutes later_

* * *

In retrospect, sliding head first down a massive aqueduct, while quite fun, was a bad idea. Mostly because once we got to one of the collecting pools the damn cat just jumped to the side whereas I missed the grab and fell right in. Also, there was the minor matter of the thing living _in_ the pool.

I grumbled as I climbed out, only for a tentacle limb to try to reach up and pull me back down. "No!" I yelled as I reached down and punched the giant cephalopodan face. "Bad Kraken! Get back down there this instant!"

The creature made a gurgling noise before it descended back into the watery depths. I finished getting back up to the lip of the pool to find Kid Flash waiting for me, a smirk on his face as he looked at me. I glowered back at him. "One word of this and I expose your browser history."

He blinked before he nervously laughed and held up his hands. "Whatever man." He looked over towards the other pools the populated the basin, each one having their own aqueduct filling them. "Boss lady says she saw the cat disappear into another archway over there. Come on."

I started moving but paused as I noticed something up ahead. "Kid Flash?"

"Yeah?"

"Is Miss Martian riding a flying narwhal?"

* * *

 _Yet 5 more minutes later_

* * *

"Ok, Disney is just going to sue somebody now…" I muttered as I swatted away the animate brooms. "Are you sure this is where you saw the cat go?"

"Positive." Miss Martian said as she strode forward into the massive supply closet, her arms outstretched and her eyes glowing as she telekinetically forced most of the cleaning supplies from leaping off the shelves at us. "And it looks like there's nowhere for it to go, either. There's only one way in or out, so it must be in here."

"You say, that, but I do not see it hiding anywhere." Starfire said as she floated along the rows, shaking a bucket off her leg that tried to entangle her. "Perhaps it is behind or in one of the objects." Her hands started to glow with power. "We may have to destroy them all to find our quarry."

Every item in the room stopped for a moment before they all frantically fled the closet as fast as their… uh, selves could take them. A moment later we were alone and I looked at our leader. "Nice, but I'm still not seeing a cat anywhere."

"Hold up," Kid Flash said before he zipped to the other end of the closet and looked at the bare wall. "This stonework is completely different from wall around it. Seems a bit weird, don't it?"

I walked up next to him and saw he was right. The tower was built out of tannish brown bricks, but the wall here seemed to flow into uncut grey stone. I doubted there would be a change in building material without a reason. I reached out my hand… and it passed right through it. "Good catch," I said before I stepped through.

* * *

Light flashed and I stepped out into… a copse. I blinked at the sunlight filtering through the deciduous trees, the sounds of birds and creaking woods echoing around me. The cluster of trees was in the middle of a slight depression in the earth, and behind me was the large boulder I had just walked out of, etched with a number of symbols and runes.

The flat face of the bolder rippled and a moment later the rest of my team followed after me. "Are we… still in the Tower?" Miss Martian asked as she drifted out of the portal and looked at our surroundings.

"Not sure…" I said. "Wouldn't put it past the Tower to have its own pocket forest. Still, this portal seemed different, we might as well assume this is outside."

"Great," Kid Flash grumbled. "Which means that damn cat could be anywhere. If this is the backdoor that hologram was talking about, we'll probably run into its owner if we don't find it quick."

At that moment I heard something on the edge of my hearing. I held up a hand and cocked my head to the side, focusing on the sound. "I think I hear something. It sounds like… a battle?"

"What, like gunfire?" Kid Flash asked.

"Not that kind of battle…" I shifted into flight form and kicked off into the air, rising above the tree line. The terrain below me was a mix of forests and plains extending in all directions. The girls flew up behind me as I came to a stop about two hundred feet in the air, and a quick visual sweep of the area brought my gaze to a particularly large field full of people fighting. Well, mostly people.

"… I don't think we're in Salem anymore, Kori." I said as I eyed the battlefield. Both sides of the battlefield were armed with medieval weaponry and armor, but one side was decidedly more green and monstrous than the other. I wasn't sure if they were orcs, or trolls, or what, but unless I had ended up in New Zealand for some very late filming we were in some kind of fantasy universe.

The Tamaranian drifted next to me, a scowl setting on her face. "What part of earth has such creatures?" she asked, eyeing a group that was grabbing injured humans off the field and shoving them in cages.

"I don't think this is Earth… or at least it shouldn't be. I pretty sure we're in a different world, or on a different plane or something. No idea where though."

"What should we do?" Miss Martian asked.

I was about to say something when Starfire spoke first. "We should help the humans against these monsters. No good can come from letting those things win this battle."

I looked at her. "Starfire, we have our own mission to take care of. Besides which, we know nothing about this conflict, or why these two groups are fighting. We can't just assume the ugly ones are the bad guys." I caught a glimpse of one particularly large greenskin rip the head off a soldier's body and proceeded to drink the blood from its neck stump. "…Alright, they're probably the bad guys, but my point still stands."

"I am not saying that we abandon our mission, but if we see the chance to help we should do so." She said firmly. "No one should suffer the barbarity of monsters."

I opened my mouth to reply, but Kid Flash's voice cut in over coms. " _Hey, one of us can't fly you know. What's going on?_ "

I paused for a moment before I replied. "Looks like we're in a fantasy universe. Knights, orcs, all the jazz." I looked at Starfire and my mouth quirked up at little. "Your call."

She looked back at me for another moment before she said. "Spread out and look for the familiar. If you see any humans in need, help them… but the familiar is the priority."

" _Copy that._ " Kid Flash said. Miss Martian and I nodded before we all split up and started our search. Minutes passed as I carefully started to spiral out from where we had entered into the plain, trying to avoid being spotted by any of the locals. I couldn't tell if I was succeeding or if they were just too busy to notice or care about me, but I didn't draw any fire. It didn't stop me from keeping an eye on them though.

Flying low along the tree line, I both saw and heard the sounds of battle around me. More than just the main forces battling on the plain, a bunch of smaller groups had broken off to try and flank. Given the uneven terrain and the pockets of woods breaking line of sight, this meant there were a number of smaller battles forming everywhere. It made finding a lone cat rather difficult, especially when most of what I could hear was the garbled mix of the sounds of battle and shouting from both sides.

 _"Thokk k'er ra-!" "-the left flank-!" "Aaaaaah!" "-Scion!" "-ner Graaa!" "TRACIL!"_

A lightning bolt felt from the clear sky, striking inside the thick patch of trees in which I heard a smaller skirmish taking place. _Probably should avoid that spot_ , I thought.

" _Found it!_ " Kid Flash suddenly yelled over coms. " _I'm about 300 meters left of our entry point, middle of a small clearing. It's in the middle of some weird markings or whatever._ "

" _Understood._ " Kori replied. " _Team Alpha, converge on Kid Flash's position._ "

" _Ah, that isn't necessary, sunset. I can handle this. Here kitty, kitty- Oh Shit!_ "

 _God damn it Wally_ , I thought to myself as I flipped in the air, putting on as much speed as I could as I flew towards his position. I was already fairly close to the location. It wasn't long before I spotted the clearing with the glowing diagram in the center, and a blur being chased by what looked to be a demonic sabretooth tiger.

My flight form required that I use most of my physical structure for control surfaces and internal jets for directing air flow, so I was limited in what additional tech I could make while flying. Fortunately, what I could use was sufficient for the current situation. Electricity crackled over my hands before I brought them up and launched lightning at the creature. It apparently had a good danger sense, as it juked to the side the moment before I launched the bolt, which resulted in only the grass getting scorched.

As I landed in the clearing, it angled its head towards me and growled, but it was forced to move as a flurry of starbolts tore up the ground near it a second later. Starfire dropped into the clearing a second later with Miss Martian following suit, the latter placing herself between the creature and the glowing circle.

The cat took stock of the situation and bolted straight for the circle, running right at Miss Martian. Kid Flash moved in a blur and tried to cut the creature off, but it just side checked him and sent the kid tumbling. Miss Martian's eyes glowed as several heavy logs shot out of the woods and formed a makeshift palisade in front of her. Unfortunately, she didn't build it high enough and the cat jumped over wall, it's whole body glowing as it cleared the distance and landed in the circle with a heavy thud.

There was a blinding flash of light, and we all took a step back. When the light cleared, there were three people standing amid the rocks. Well, two standing with one was on his knees bound by rope, which I quickly identified as a roughed up Kent Nelson. Standing directly over him was a wiry, tan skinned man with a goatee and a puffy shirt, like some kind of swashbuckler or something. And the last, was a very pale boy with dark hair whose outfit reminded me of a pilgrim with with sleeves. I had no idea who the former was, but I had a pretty short list in mind who the latter could be, and I was not liking it.

The cat (now back to its normal size) jumped into the boy's arms, who gave a smug smirk. "Well-"

That was as far as I let him get before my arm finished forming into a sonic cannon and fired, tearing up the ground between us as the wave of sound ripped towards them. The boy was quick though, and with a flick of his wrist the air rippled between us. The space flashed red as wave hit, and the low bass sound turned into a cacophony of screeching noises as the force poured off in different directions.

Somehow through the noise I heard the boy's voice, a scratching sort of echo. " **Naughty, naughty, you strange thing you. You should be taught a lesson.** "

The red energy shifted and compressed, the sounds dulling down to nothing before it shot back towards me through my sustained fire. As it hit I felt pain as it reverberated through my whole body, enough that it took me a few seconds to realize that I was flying back through the air at an impressive speed. I was a few seconds before I hit the ground with a heavy crash.

I rolled for a few seconds before I managed to come to a stop in some kind of trench. For a few seconds I felt… sore. Aching. Something I hadn't quite felt since I had been transformed. I tried to analyze the sensation, but it faded quickly. It took a moment or two for me to get my bearings, shake off whatever magic was clinging to me and fully look at my surroundings. And realize that I was not alone in that trench.

The blonde woman and I blinked at each other owlishly, neither having expected to find someone else. The young woman was dressed in form fitting royal purple cloth, with more flowing cloth around the chest, waist and neck. She had a few pieces of golden armor covering her arms, and a regal looking tiara holding back her long hair. In one hand she held a saber, but she wasn't pointing it at me at the moment.

We stared at each other for a second before we waved awkwardly.

"Machina!" I heard Starfire yell.

At the same time I heard another voice calling out from the other direction. "Amethyst!"

The two of us hesitated for a moment, before we shrugged as one and leapt of out the trench, running back towards our respective battles. Wonder what the story there was?

I kicked off into the air and speed back to the group to find the fight well underway. The boy and the swashbuckler stood in a shell of shifting red energy, firing a variety of energy attacks at my teammates. Starfire and Miss Martian were firing energy and rocks at the shield, but they were having no effect. I had half a mind to try adding my own lightning to the mix, but I had the feeling that it wouldn't do much.

"Oh, now I remember this place!" I heard the boy say excitedly, seemingly not caring about the rest of us. "Hasn't changed a bit ever since we handed it over to that one sorceress." His face twisted into a scowl. "I knew it was a mistake."

I landed some distance away on the other side of the defensive shell and turned my arm into a laser cannon, but this time I made a bit of a change. I was normally leery of using a maser in any context, but I needed something different if I wanted to bypass that shield of theirs. I set the barrel to widespread and fired a steady but low intensity burst of microwaves at them.

The effect was instantaneous, the pair flinching as they were hit with the invisible rays. It was at non-lethal levels, but I imagined it was hard to keep concentrating when you were suffering from what felt like the worst full body sunburn of your life. The boy only lasted for a few seconds before he snarled and thrust out his hands. The shell around them shattered and the shards flew out in all directions. I went back into the air to dodge, though a few curved upwards to follow me.

"We need to know what we are up against!" Starfire said as she took cover behind a tree from the new attack.

"The one in the white is Abra Kadabra!" Kid Flash yelled as he blurred around trees to avoid the swarm of energy bolts following him. "He's a time traveler that uses future tech to fake magic! Don't know the other one though!"

I dropped next to him and smashed a tree, causing it to fall and block the projectiles. "I think that's Klarion the Witch Boy. He's an immortal sorcerer, very strong!" I suppose I couldn't be certain about that, but at the moment it felt like a pretty good guess.

The kid looked like he was about to say something but he stopped, his eyes unfocusing a bit. For a moment I was worried that he had been hit by a spell before he refocused on me, zipping up right next to me and whispering "Be distracting, go!"

I looked after him confused for a moment before I realized that he must have got a telepathic message from Starfire. A plan must have been made, but she didn't want it said out loud or over coms. I didn't pause for long before I moved to skirt around our opponents. I may not have known what the plan was, but I was willing to trust my team.

As Starfire flew overhead and drew the attention of the fake magician, I ran in at the Witch Boy. He noticed my approach and smiled wickedly. "Someone wants to play!" he said before his shadow elongated and split, several shadow copies of himself lifting off the ground and launching themselves at me. I juked to the side and formed a laser cannon, firing at the shadows. Some I hit and were dissipated, others I managed to dodge.

I wasn't quite fast enough to dodge the last shadow though. It ripped straight through me, and that aching soreness I felt before returned in force… before it faded a few seconds later. I shook my head as I regained my wits. Was that supposed to be it? Probably not, as Klarion looked just as confused by this result as I was. I brought my cannon up and fired at him while he was distracted, but he was fast enough to bring up his hand and scatter my beam into kaleidoscopic light.

Meanwhile, the Witch Boy's partner was having trouble all his own. "A Tamaranian? What is one of you doing here?" Abra remarked as a dozen broadswords materialized out of the air around him and fired at the woman. "You lot should be stuck on your home world and remaining colonies by this point."

"What would you know of my people?!" Starfire yelled back as she swooped to avoid the storm of blades. She then righted herself and fired off a salvo of starbolts at her opponent.

"Oh, this and that…" Abra replied casually as he flicked his wand out in front of him, several translucent shield constructs blocking the energy blasts. "Would you like to know the fate of your planet?"

She froze in midair, staring down at the timer traveler. "Tell me…"

"Well-"

"NOW!"

As she yelled that, Kid Flash appeared out of thin air in the middle of the clearing, moving at top speed toward the enemy. Even with my attention split I saw the air he appeared from waver and reveal a sort of wide green sheet that was quickly reforming into Miss Martian. Kid Flash was so close and so fast that neither of our opponents had time to react before he reached the bound Kent Nelson, hoisted him up and started booking it out of the clearing.

"NOOOOO!" Klarion screeched as he turned from me and simply flew after Kid Flash. As his screech grew louder the air shook and suddenly the rest of my team grabbed their ears and felt to the ground in pain. Abra and I flinched but remained upright, the both of us apparently not that effected by the attack. I moved to silence the Witch Boy, but Abra gestured at me with his wand and glowing shackles formed on my hands and feet. He then tossed a small metallic cube at me.

I had no idea what that cube was, and I had no intension of finding out (on his terms anyway). My limbs lengthened and narrowed, slipping out of my restraints as I stepped forward and speared through the box with my arm. My assimilation spikes deployed, but partway through eating the device I stumbled as it fought _back_. The thing had been loaded with nanites that did not like what I was doing. I could handle it, but it put me off balance for a few seconds until I was done.

Abra gave me the strangest look as he hesitated. "Wait, just what are…" he trailed off for a moment before his eyes widened. "No, no, no, absolutely not!" His wand flicked out and a white glow started to envelop him. However, as he did so he took a step back and stumbled over the cat, which happened to be just behind him. I used the moment he was off balance to close the distance and pounce. Just as I grabbed him I managed to hear Klarion yell "Teekl!" before everything seemed to flicker-fall sideways and me and Abra landed on the ground.

It took me a moment to realize we had left the clearing, now located in some kind of rock quarry. I suspected teleportation was involved, but at that moment I chose to focus on the man who was pinned under me. He looked up at me with wide eyes. "Wait-"

I shocked him before he could continue, but amazingly he didn't fall unconscious. He screamed in pain as electricity arced off of him, but he still managed to yell "Just hold on a minute!"

A wave of force from the side sent me flying off the man, but I managed to land on my feet and face the irritated Witch Boy who had appeared out of nowhere. "At least that much works…" he drawled out, his features becoming just a little more inhuman as his cat moved to hid behind his legs. "Let's try a few more things, shall we?"

I rapidly formed air jets on my back and my arms turned into lightning claws. I was going to close the distance as fast as possible and engage the squishy casters in melee. My jets flared to life and I

[ ███████ ]

stopped. Wait, what no I

[ ████████████ ]

stopped. What? What the fuck was happening?! I dimly noticed that Abra's glowing shackles had formed on me again, but they couldn't have been what was… what was that? The man was pointing his wand at me, but unlike before his brow was furrowed in intense concentration as he muttered rapidly under his breath.

I didn't have time to think on this before Klarion started hitting me with wave after wave of harshly scintillating energy. Each time it hit I felt soreness and aching, building on top of itself until it moved into a full body sickness. I was able to weather it though, and after a bit he stopped and I felt myself start to recover.

The boy frowned in irritation, not pleased with the result. "You're not paralyzing, you're not going blind, you're not hallucinating that you're the main character of a trashy romance novel… and your soul is-" He paused for a moment before he laughed. "Wait, silly me, I'm just being too specific." Suddenly Klarion's features distorted even more, his appearance almost demonic as he pointed a finger at me. " **BREAK.** "

A beam that warped space launched itself from his finger and hit me, and in that instant everything twisted in on itself and broke. Shards of light bled and burned, screams cut themselves through my flesh into the earth, the taste of blood echoed though the past and future leaving the present a hungry void, and a fractal kaleidoscope etched out the death of thought.

I don't know how long it was before the pain and disorientation receded, and I was just left with darkness. I felt panic rise inside of me until I felt that ever-present chittering rise, and I realized I had had been reduced to the blob of mass I had been when I first got these nanites. I focused on my form and started pulling myself together as fast as I could. My hearing was the first sense to come back, and I managed to catch part of what the Witch Boy was saying. "-nonsense, but I have always wanted a new toy. I think this will do nicely."

"No!" Abra said. "We don't have time for you to 'play'. You heard them, the kids have the other searching for the Helmet. We don't want them reaching it before we do."

"Tch, killjoy." A sigh. "But I suppose you're right. Teekl, come!"

I just managed to get my sight back in time for me to see them disappear in a flash of light, Abra looking back at me for a moment before he was gone. As my body took a humanoid shape I tried to stand up and move after them, but I only got one step before I was slammed with the same aching soreness as earlier. Taking a step back caused it to stop, and I saw the cause: A glowing orange circle about two meters across surrounding me. As I reformed I carefully tried to stand up, but my head brushed the top of the field, sending me collapsing back onto the ground. I tried digging underneath the circle, but quickly found it extended downwards in a sphere beneath me.

I was trapped.

Shit.

=====A=====


	26. 7-3

=====A=====

Man I wished I had enough room to pace.

As it was, I had shrunk down to my xenomorph form just to give myself a little extra room inside the magic circle. Of course, that only helped drive home that I was locked in a cage. This was the first time I had actually felt trapped since… well, the Psions. I did not like it to say the least. And for that matter, just _what_ happened? Abra did… something, and I just stopped. It didn't feel like any of the times Serling worked on my nanites, or even like when the Fog was gnawing on me. It felt… almost subconscious for lack of a better term.

I thought about the nanomachine box I assimilated from him. Was it advanced enough that it not only was able to access my consciousness emulation but leave also leave a back door I couldn't even recognize? If so it was only partially successful. Definitely didn't seem like things were going according to plan when he franticly tried to teleport away from me. As well, you'd think that if it had worked as intended he would have gained more control over me than just holding me still, and requiring all of his concentration to do only that. Which, in itself, was really strange that a man with such advanced technology had to concentrate on such a simple function…

I shook my head. I could think about the how and why of it later. Right now escape was my primary concern. "Machina to team, do you read me?" I said over the coms. "Klarion trapped me in a magic circle in some kind of quarry, please respond."

Silence was all I got. I knew coms were working earlier, so what changed? Could be the circle, could be out of range of short range communications, or any number of other things. So the question was, what the hell could I do now?

Taking a better look at the quarry I was in didn't help much. The grey stone rose up on either side of me about 20 meters, and I could just see green trees over the lip above. _Just where am I?_ I wondered. It still looked like the same time of day it was before I teleported, so I was probably still in the same dimension. I enhanced my hearing and listened as hard as I could, and sure enough I heard the faint sounds of battle in the air. That meant I was 'nearby', but given the strength of my hearing I could be as much as 5km away.

The thought of shouting for help popped into my head, and after a moment I formed a small sonic cannon on my tail. I started with a low powered wave pointed upwards and gradually increased it. It started out fine, but as it got louder the magical shell around me started to become visible and I heard a horrible shriek. I cut off the cannon with a growl. _Seems only a certain level of sound can get out._ I then tried the same trick with a laser and got a similar result.

 _Ok, no big obvious signals for help_ , I thought. _What else have I got?_ I sat still for a moment and turned my focus inward, mentally parsing through the tech I could create. In particular I focused on the newest acquisition, that little box from Abra I had consumed. When I first assimilate tech it's a bit of a crapshoot as to how easily I can intuit its functions, and this one was giving me a bit of trouble. _Let's see here... wasn't just nanites, there were a number of connecting structures meant to channel energy and data, plus a central processor. Mutable in shape… and the nanites are there to actually transform the device to the desired shape, not interact with anything else. And it looks like these structures are meant to connect to things, So, at a guess, the device basically breaks down physically, enters something, finds key components, hijacks them and slaves them to its own processor… damn it I can already kind of do that!_

Although… this would actually help me interface with tech without destroying it. That was pretty big. Didn't help me in my current predicament though. I needed to get creative. Did I have anything, absolutely anything else-

I sat up a little straighter as it came to me. I didn't like it. And it would probably be pointless. But… it wasn't like I had any better options at the moment.

I let out a growl as I pushed the air out of my 'lungs' and my form changed, all of my mass out of storage. My limbs flowed into my expanding torso, all semblance of a normal body disappearing as I twisted slightly and a trio of curving prongs formed pointing upwards. After a few seconds I had assumed my psychic ansible form and everything went black. I tried to ignore the rising anxiety at the loss of my senses and focused, mentally shouting as hard as I could. _Miss Martian! Miss Martian! M'GANN!_

It probably wasn't going to work. Regardless of whether or not Miss Martian was even in range of me, my current form didn't actually make me telepathic. Something had been lost in the translation between me and the biotech M'gann had given me. I was basically a massive antenna or radar dish without any power. Miss Martian would have to be actively listening for me in order to hear me, and considering I never used this form…

No, no, keep thinking about how you can get out of this. There had to be a way, I had to have some kind of mechanism, to send out an actual psychic signal. Not an actually thought or message, just some kind of noise. But, I had no idea how the Martian tech worked or what I could do to manipulate it. But… I might have had a way to find out.

I hadn't had the chance for Serling to work her magic on me since the last time, but I tried to remember what I had felt when she ran that diagnostic algorithm through me. I focused on that chittering that was always there in the back of my mind, the flow and rhythm of the algorithm. Slowly, some of my mass started to shift and blend. Bits of information passed through my mind, but it wasn't enough. I keep pressing more and more, shifting more bits around, fitting new information in where I could. It still wasn't enough.

I formed Amazo's data processing structure, lacing it throughout the whole of my body. It might interfere with the signal, but it was relatively low mass compared to the rest and I needed more information. The moment I did the amount of data in my mind overflowed, and I saw a kaleidoscope of lights and a symphony of sounds. Everything was folding in on itself over and over again, a pattern repeating infinitely down and up. But what did it mean, I had to-

Argh!

The scream brought me up short and I stopped, darkness and silence returning to me. Did… I just imagine that scream or…

A few seconds later when a felt a light pressure on my mind, different from what Serling had managed but familiar all the same. Machina? Is that you?

If I had been capable of it I would have sighed in relief. Miss Martian, thank god, I didn't think that would actually work.

Just what did you do? It felt like the first time I tried to talk to you telepathically, but louder.

That… wasn't quite what I meant to do, but I'll take it. Uh, sorry, I was trying to get your attention. Look, I got teleported by Abra and trapped in a magic circle by Klarion, but I think I'm still somewhere in a 5-10 kilometer radius. If you could find me-

She cut me off. As much as I'd like- A pause and a mental grunt. -to, we're a little busy right now! Mister Nelson left through the portal, but we had to stay because we didn't know what happened to you. He managed to find team Beta and return with them and the Helmet, but the sorcerer boy enslaved a bunch of those monsters, and is now throwing them at us right now to breach the portal!

…What the hell did I miss?!

Regardless of this, Miss Martian continued. Hold on, I'll connect you to the rest of the gr-

And then my world exploded.

Traps and glowing trip wires filled the path I won't lose his water-bearer sliced through the crude weapons with Wait, I didn't mean this He stood fast and pummeled any that got Oh my The orcs dropped from her grip as she clutched Miss Martian, this is not Starbolts rained down on Can we turn down the psychic volume If only she wasn't so useless

 _Enough!_

I mentally untangled all the threads that had forced themselves into my head, holding them seperate for a moment before bringing them back together again a bit more evenly… and suddenly I was standing back in the copse that we had first arrived to this world in, right next to a very confused looking Artemis. No, wait, I was in the sky next to Miss Martian. No, I was next to both of them, as well as next to Kid Flash as he ran at Abra, and Starfire as she rained down starbolts at the magician, and Superboy and Aqualad pushing back a charge of orcs with glowing red eyes.

Looking down at myself/selves, I was hazy and indistinct. I couldn't tell if I was in my human form, my armored form, something in between, or something else entirely. I didn't focus on it for long though, as turning my attention outward showed me… so much. I saw the copse from above and how there was a small but steady stream of greenskins heading towards it from the plains to the north. I could see to the west where Abra was fighting Starfire and Kid Flash on the plains. Patches of the area where haze and indistinct, but they flickered in and out of focus for a reason I couldn't discern.

And up above, just beneath the gathering storm clouds, two figures fought. One was dressed in blue and gold, a golden cape billowing out behind him matching the helm on his head. The other was the Witch Boy, reddish orange power leaking from his body and merging with the clouds above. Energy met and clashed between the two, the air filling with the sound of thunder.

I took in all of this, and processed it as best I could. "…what the hell is going on?" I said, not sure if I was actually saying it or thinking it.

Either way, Superboy finished beating down the orc he had been dealing with before turning to look at 'me'. How are we supposed to know? You're the one who keeps pulling new powers out of your ass.

I was going to respond when I saw an orc that was coming up behind Superboy, having snuck up from behind a small mound. As its sword was raised to swing down on his head, out of reflex I yelled "Look out!"

Even before I started to 'speak' Superboy moved, taking a small step back and to the side, into the greenskin's reach. The creature arm awkwardly came down on Superboy's shoulder, and the moment it was off balance Superboy grabbed the arm and flung him clear. The half Kyptonian then blinked. Wait, how did I know he was there? Like, his exact position.

"Because… I saw it?" I said before I looked towards the copse, and understanding dawned on me as I saw Artemis at the edge looking at him. "No, because Artemis saw it. Which means I saw it. Which means I could 'show' it to you. That why I've been able to see a map of the area, I'm building it out from all of your sense combined!"

I then felt a sudden flash of realization from M'gann. Hello, Megan! It's Jacob's ansible form! It's acting as a central hub for our link, and it has so much brain to use!

I hesitated at the odd way she phrased that, but after a moment's thought I realized what she meant. Martian biotech was not all that different from their biologies and she had mentioned the tech typically scales up quite well. Miss Martian's telepathic nerve cluster was about the size of a walnut, and she could setup an auditory psychic link. Mora's was the size of a baseball and capable of more complicated information transfer (even if only a Martian could understand it).

I was currently 300 kilograms of pure psychic ansible. I had processing power to spare.

Great, now how's that help us? Superboy yelled as he and Aqualad ran at a trio of greenskins bearing down on them with axes. Aqualad danced around their clumsy blows, while Superboy just plowed through them.

It can help me use my telepathy on more targets! Miss Martian said as she closed her eyes and brought a hand up to her head. Klarion and Abra are shielded somehow, but I can try to break the mind control on these things! A moment later I felt a new sort of pressure on my mind. It felt like several distinct objects bundled together, but it was 'light' enough that it wasn't a problem. Back with the team, the remaining greenskins started to slow and stumble, the red light fading from their eyes. They still fought, but now they were lashing out aimlessly in confusion, rather than with a goal.

Meanwhile, the fight against Abra was not doing as well. Starfire and Kid Flash were constantly moving to avoid the steady stream of energy blasts Abra was sending in all directions. Kid Flash would try to get in close, but each time he veered off just before an explosion of some sort triggered. In the air, Starfire weaved around large strips of red cloth that tried to ensnare and trap her. She fired bolts at Abra whenever she could, but he was always ready with a shield to block them.

Up in the sky, powerful magic was thrown back and forth between the two mages. An array of ankhs circled Dr. Fate as he weathered a barrage of red energy from Klarion. One by one the ankhs shattered until he stepped back into the last one and disappeared, reappearing some distance farther back. Fate cast out his hands in an arcane gesture, and dozens of golden motes of light formed around him. The light then shot out, moving rapidly in jagged patterns towards Klarion.

The area around Witch Boy twisted and bent in on itself, and the motes were deflected in all directions. Fate quickly tried to follow up by creating a cyclone in his hands, directiing the ever growing maw of the whirlwind at his opponent. However, the boy just grinned and raised his arm up, his aura bleeding upwards into the clouds to grab on to them. With a pulling motion he pulled the clouds down into a cyclone of his own, meeting and neutralizing the one Fate threw.

Klarion's cackled as his voice boomed through the clouds. "That host of yours is past its expiration date, Nabu!" Red-orange lighting gathered in the clouds above the boy. "Whereas I still remember how to tap in to the power of this world!"

With a cackle he cast his hand out, and what happened next was almost too fast to follow. The lightning spilt and shot out like a group of serpents, lancing down towards the team near the portal. Dr. Fate cast out his hands and a large golden shell formed over the surrounding area. However, the instant he did that the lightning changed course and coalesced into a single massive spear headed straight for him. The barrier in front of him held for just a second before the lightning pierced through and struck him dead on in the chest.

" **AARRGH!** "

He screamed, until the lightning stopped. Still smoldering, Fate fell to the ground, landing with a heavy crash near the portal. Artemis scrambled over to him, finding him heavly burned all over his body, but his hands still glowing gold. The barrier up above was still there, but it was starting to fracture and break. The glow from his hands started to fade as he looked up at Artemis. " **You must… you… find a new** … just… believe."

The light faded from his eyes, and his hands fell down to his sides. The gold and blue uniform simmered and faded away.

He… we lost him.

Artemis looked at the body stunned for a moment before looking back up at the sky. Then, her face set, she reached down and pulled the Helmet off of Nelson's head. "Artemis, what-" I started to say.

I'm the least useful one here right now, and we need someone to keep him occupied! She mentally yelled at me. No one else can stand up to that little demon, so I'm putting on my robe and wizard hat!

And without further hesitation she jammed the Helmet onto her head.

Gold light flared around her and suddenly she became fuzzy to me. Her connection to the mind link didn't break, but it became dampened, like it was covered by a heavy cloth. By the time the light faded the link lost 'sight' of her. A moment later from Miss Martian's perspective I saw Artemis shoot up into the air, decked out in the raiment of Fate. " **Foolish Witch Boy,** " I heard her say, her voice overlayed by a much deeper, masculine one. As she struck the crumbling barrier it exploded outwards, knocking Klarion back in the air. " **You cannot stop Fate!** "

 _Ah, wizards. Always trying to put it off._

"NOOOO!" Klarion screeched in anger, energy building around him once again. "Why won't you stay down you stupid bucket?!"

As the magic battle in the sky resumed, the one on the ground was wrapping up. Between all of the orcs being broken from mind control, and Superboy and Aqualad pushing forward, the remaining ones routed quickly. As they fled, Starfire said Everyone, join the fight with Abra! Aqualad, I leave the battle to you!

She disengaged the moment Miss Martian reached her, flying towards the battle between Artemis and Klarion. She must have felt my confusion, as she then said. I have to assist Artemis. Nelson said that he was looking for a suitable candidate to pass the helm to, but I doubt Artemis was what he had in mind. Besides, he could not do it on his own either.

"You're not wrong," I said. "But the Witch Boy is more powerful than I would have thought. You need to be careful."

I know. She stopped in the air and looked at me. Can you think of anything that may be of assistance? Any method that might pierce his defenses, anything that would blunt his attacks?

"Well… anything that can disrupt or fight magic would be best. Barring that, I'd say sheer willpower is probably the best thing to get through. If you know of a way to focus all of your metaphysical being into an attack…"

She was silent for a moment as she looked up. …I may have something, a part of my training with the Warlords I have been trying to apply as of late. It is not perfect, and I will need to concentrate for some time before I can use it, but this would be the situation for it.

"You can do it." I said. "I know you can."

She looked at my apparition, and I felt something I couldn't quite place. She nodded at me… and then started stripping off her clothes.

"Uhh…" I said intelligently.

I need to gather as much power as I can for this, these garments will only get in the way. She explained, her clothing drifting to the ground. I need to focus on this, everyone try to take down Abra in the meantime! And with the last bit of garment discarded she shot upwards, straight through the storm clouds. A few moments later she broke through the clouds and floated to a stop, closing her eyes and closing her fists as she took in the bright light of the sun.

I kept my focus on her for a moment longer before I switched it back to ground level, watching as Aqualad and Superboy approached the fight with Abra Kadabra. It was not going well for Kid Flash and Miss Martian, as the pair were trying to escape a flight of burning doves. Ahh! Get them away, get them away! She mentally yelled as she frantically dived around in the air.

Aqualad gathered as much water as he could as he cleared the distance between them, and when he got in range he lashed out with his water-bearer. It formed into a long whip which struck the birds hounding the girl, each hit causing the birds to vanish in a puff of steam. We need a plan of attack! he thought. Our enemy has many tricks up his sleeve, we can't just rush in!

Good luck with that! Kid Flash yelled as he juked past Superboy, who snuffed out the birds with a massive clap of his hands. Abra's got traps hidden in the ground. And he keeps teleporting the things around. I can't get close to him, only close enough to see the things that would fry me.

I paused for a moment before I said "So, you know where the traps are."

Yeah, but like I said, he keep teleporting them, so they move before I can do anything.

"But you know where they are. And because of me, that means you all know where they are."

Aqualad straightened. I see what you are getting at, Machina. Kid Flash, you're on point to find all the traps. Superboy, you take them out, ranged option. Miss Martian and I will harry Abra to keep him distracted. Go!

Aqualad strafed to the side, his water-bearer whips striking out at the enemy. Abra merely stood there and conjured some shield constructs to block the blows before manifesting an array of swords. Miss Martian took to the air and intercepted them with her telekensis, knocking them out of the way and giving Aqualad the chance to attack again. This time Miss Martian let out a grunt of effort and shoved, telekinetically knocking the shields out of the way and letting the attack get through. There was a flash of light as the water whip hit, and Abra staggered a little but didn't fall.

Meanwhile, Kid Flash ran. He sprinted straight at Abra before suddenly making a sharp turn, avoiding the landmine or tripwire or whatever other nasty thing had been hidden in the ground. A second later a rock hurdlde at the spot at blinding speed, cratering the area before it exploded in fire or electricity or light. Some distances away Superboy continued to take chunks out of the ground, a stockpile of rocky ammunition being his makeshift minesweeper. In a minute they cleared out a whole cluster of traps in and arc leading up to Abra.

Something the man did not fail to notice. "I can't stand a rowdy audience!" The man said as he threw out his arm, and an open magician's box popped into existence before hurdling itself at Superboy. "I'm putting you backstage!"

Before it could reach him though, water flowed in from the side and sliced through the box, the pieces falling to the ground before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Aqualad slid to a stop in front of Superboy as he looked at the magician. "Too bad, Abra. We're sticking together." He twirled his water-bearers in his hands, and a slight grin crossed his lips. "And we aim to misbehave."

…Kaldur has adopted the Tao of Malcom Reynolds. I see no problem with this.

As one the Team moved, spreading out in all directions. Abra lashed out with lightning from his wand, but Kid Flash saw the paths as they were being formed. Aqualad whipped out a line of water in just the right shape to intercept the bolts, grounding them through the tattoos on his body. Kid Flash sped in and weaved around a line of fire heading for Miss Martian, forming a cyclone that captured it and sent it straight back at Abra. The man growled as he fell back towards the tree line, slashing out with his wand and cutting a line in the air, causing the tornado to sputter and die.

Abra then started to gather energy in motes around him, but before he could do anything with them he was forced to turn to the side form a wall of shields as rocks shot at him. Miss Martian floated nearby, her eyes glowing as she was orbited by dozens of rocks of various sizes. Abra blocked each hit, but they kept curving in ways that forced him to keep his attention on defending. Which is why he never saw Superboy charging in from the other side until it was too late. Superboy's fist collided with Abra's chest just as he started to turn, and I just barely saw a hexagonal shield form over the man's body before it shattered and exploded, sending both of them flying away from each other.

Abra flew backwards into the tree line, rolling awkwardly before managing to get to his feet with a snarl. "Alright, I can see how this show is going." He ground out as he quickly swept his wand in front of him, a thick black fog enveloping his person. The cloud billowed out from him and covered most of the area up to the tree line. The team dashed in, but the moment Kid Flash hit the fog he stopped, and I felt a wave of panic from him.

Pull back! Pull back now!

Everyone reversed direction and bolted just as Abra said "Time for the final curtain you little brats." He snapped his fingers and there was a spark.

The cloud ignited, the blast rending trees for a good ten meters and sending the team flying. They landed with heavy thuds some distance away sprawled out in the field. Their senses became muted, and I was blind for a moment. "Is everyone alright?" I asked, trying not to let my worry be heard.

"Ow, I-I'm alright." "…Check." "Hmp, fine." "I hate today."

I let out a mental breath as they opened their eyes and pulled themselves to their feet, looking at the burning woods Abra's last attack had created. "So… did he…?" Superboy trailed off.

"Nah, he's pulled that trick before." Kid Flash said. "He changed the color, I recognized the gas from the smell. The fraud's legged it."

Before we could consider chasing after him, Starfire spoke over the link. I am nearly ready, but must strike with the element of surprise. Machina, if I stay above the clouds, can you guide me to my target?

As I thought for a moment, Miss Martain looked up towards the fight between Fate and Klarion, energy still blazing across the sky. I watched for a moment before I said "Every, spread out and all eyes on Klarion. I need as many eyes and angles on the kid as possible."

The all nodded and spread out, and quickly enough my spatial map of the battlefield filled in. In a few moments I felt the innate knowledge of distances fill into the back of my mind and I returned my attention to Starfire. Now that I was focusing on her again, I noticed that her fists were glowing intensely, brighter than I had ever seen them before. My impression of her was tense and focused, and she barely acknowledged me as my apparition moved in front of her. "I've got it, follow me."

She flew after me as I positioned myself directly above Klarion, and I gestured to stop as we were right over. "Artemis, I don't know is use can still hear me with that helmet on, but Starfire's about to launch an attack from above. If you can distract the kid, do so." I waited for several long moments, watching the fight between her and Klarion rip through the sky. Then, she flew low and passed almost directly under the Witch Boy, turning upwards to form a massive ankh that in turn formed a pillar of golden light. Klarion turned to face it, blocking the attack by forming a twisting barrier that hurt the eyes of everyone that looked at it. "Now!" I yelled.

And so, Starfire turned downwards and fell, Tactical Ballistic Tamaranian inbound.

The wind ripped past her as she powered through the clouds, guided by the gentle nudge I gave her towards the target. It was only a few seconds before she broke from the cloud cover, Klarion about a dozen meters away. The Witch Boy spun in the air as she approached, his aura expanding into the shape of a massive demon around him as he went to strike at her. However, golden chains formed around his limbs the moment he turned away from Fate. He emitted pulse of power that shattered them, but that gave Starfire the time she needed to clear the distance, and as she did she shouted her warcry.

"Sunlight Green-!"

What.

"OVERDRIVE!"

Starfire impacted Klarion hard, her glowing fists moving in a blur as she pummeled the demon-like child down towards the ground. Klarion was pushed back at surprising speed, each blow resulting in a green burst of energy that tore away at his aura. In a few short seconds she forced him all the way to the ground, and with a final punch she burned through the last of his aura and hit him square in the chest. Green light flared as the Witch Boy cratered into the ground with bone crushing force.

…I did _not_ squee.

You can't prove it.

As the dust and dirt cleared, I got sight of Klarion through Starfire's eyes as she stood over him. The boy was a wreck, his limbs bent at odd angles and much of his clothes burned away. His chest was charred and slightly caved in, but that didn't stop him from staring up at her with glowing hate filled eyes. "Ffffuchchhh-" He spat out as his body started to writhe and become even more misshapen. "Fff-f-fine! Keep the stupid helmet! But you will pay for this!"

A moment later he simply imploded, his body turning in on itself into a single point. Red light flared and in the next instant he was gone.

For a long moment everything was still, the only sound being Starfire breathing. Eventually, I said "So… Sunlight Green Overdrive?"

She turned to look at my apparition. "The Warlords of Okaara taught me that as a method as putting all of oneself into an attack. They taught that it was useful to have a mantra or incantation for the moment of release. I had not yet thought of one for that particular move, and the words just… popped into my head, spur of the moment." A beat. "Thank you for lending me those illustrated books, by the way. It's been quite a good read thus far."

"Wait till you get to part two." I said as the others moved to Starfire's location.

 _Well, everything seems to be in order._

The first to arrive was Fate, who landed next to Starfire and simply stared for a moment. She then raised her hand and a golden beam traced over Starfire's body. When it disappeared she was covered in a fine silk robe the same color as her hair. " **Fate… appreciates your dedication to defeating the Witch Boy.** " She said after a moment.

"It is nothing." She waved off. "I can get more cloths some other time."

Fate did not respond to that, and a few moments later the rest of the team showed up. "I do not see Klarion." Aqualad said. "Has he been defeated?"

My many images shrugged. "Well, I saw him get all mangled up before he imploded in on himself, so I'm going to guess yes."

I got a few raised eyebrows at that, save for Kid Flash who was focused on something else. "Hey, boss lady, where'd you get the fancy get-up? Not that I'm complaining, mind you."

"Dr. Fate was kind enough to make them for me, seeing as how I discarded my old cloths to absorb as much sunlight as possible."

The kid reeled back. "Wait, you mean you stripped-"

"Anyway," Miss Martian interrupted a little loudly. "Just what happened to Klarion? Is he…"

" **No.** " Fate responded. " **Klarion is a Lord of Chaos. His physical body is merely a container for his power. Though he will be weakened and disrupted for some time, he cannot be destroyed by such conventional means.** " Fate raised her hands, which started to glow gold. " **Nevertheless, I should secure the Tower quickly. I will bring us back-** "

"Hold up, we still need to get Machina!" Superboy protested. "The guy is trapped somewhere in this world."

Miss Martian lifted into the air a little. "I can track him though the psychic link. He's not far, a few miles maybe. It shouldn't take long."

It was at that point I said "I could use Dr. Fate's assistance as well, what with the magic circle thing."

"Right, Dr. Fate, could you come as well? He is trapped by some sort of magic barrier."

Fate paused for a moment before she too lifted into the air. " **Very well, let us make haste.** "

Starfire joined them. "I will come as well, just in case. Aqualad, secure the portal, we will be back shortly."

With that, the three took off, Miss Martian leading the group off to the northwest. As they flew I got a good look at the surrounding area, and saw that the battle we had spotted earlier was wrapping up. And it looked like the humans won, luckily enough. _Good, I really didn't want to have to deal with that. Especially after fighting a Lord of Chaos_ , I thought to myself before checking the girls for signs of exhaustion. _I hope wearing the Helmet isn't too much of a strain for Artemis. Otherwise she's going to be cranky when she takes it off_.

 _How is the unusual one coming along?_

I then noticed something out of the corner of Miss Martian's eye. "Starfire, are your hands alright?"

Hmm? Oh, yes, they're fine, nothing to worry about.

My apparition appeared underneath her, my arms folded, and my mouth pressed thin. She glanced at me before she sighed and held up her hands in front of her face. There were a few burns and bruises scattered on them. While I can hold my starbolts without issue, their detonations are another matter. She explained. I have been practicing controlling the energy in my hands so that I can send all of the force away from me, but it seems I have not perfected the technique yet. Really, this is quite minor.

"Focus on your hands, I want to get a better look."

Instead she lowered them to her sides. It is nothing to be concerned about.

"Well, how am I supposed to be sure of that if-"

"Jacob," She said out loud as she looked at me flatly. "You are fussing over me again."

I waggled my non-corporal finger at her. "Woman I am, somehow, the team medic. I will fuss over you however much I want." I was about to say more before I actually noticed my hand and stopped. My image had stopped shifting around so much and had finally settled, but I wasn't expecting what I saw.

Flesh. Normal bones and muscles covered in skin. Looking down I saw my body was the same, normal looking bare skin and human physique. I… hadn't seen myself like this in months, so for a few moments I was just stuck silent. I suppose it was also why it took me a bit to realize I was orange.

I was a slightly darker tone than Kori's, but it definitely wasn't a human skin tone. My lower half was covered in a sort of loose cloth whose style I did not recognize, and a belt with various tools lined my waist. I had a moment of double vision and I saw myself from the outside. My hair was still white, but my eyes were a shocking shade of blue, nearly solid save for the lighter irises. For a second I wondered just why I looked like this before I realized. No one else was 'looking' at me at that moment, it was just her.

Was this how Kori saw me?

I reeled as I felt something ripple through my being, deep but very familiar. And wrong. Kori saw my sudden distress. "Jacob? Jacob what's wrong?"

"It's Abra! He's found me and he's-!"

I couldn't stand it, it felt like something was reaching into to me. My focus returned to my body as it twisted and morphed. As I finally snapped back to human I opened my eyes to see Abra standing a few feet away from me. His hand was extended towards me, and a scowl was on his face. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice… damn, I am out of practice. Well, no matter." He said in a strained tone.

"What-" I started to say before a wave of lightheadedness hit me. "What are you doing to me?"

"I am removing the schematics of the technology you assimilated from me." He said. "I may not be terribly concerned about the rest of society, but I don't want to have to deal with any temporal paradoxes that would arise from a technovore consuming future technology."

"…And just _how_ are you doing that?" I asked as I tried in vain to fight off whatever was going on inside of me. "I have been having rather immense difficulty finding anyone capable of interacting with these things."

Abra hesitated for a long moment before he said "I come from four millennia in your future. You really think I don't have the proper technology to manipulate nanomachines?"

"I think I find it strange that your technology requires you to point your hand and me and concentrate as hard as you are." I remarked.

"Oh, what do you know?" He snapped before falling into silence.

I stared at him for a long moment before I lashed out my arm at him. It hit the barrier of course, but that was the point. I held back a scream as I felt myself loose cohesion a little, chaos magic playing merry hell with my structure.

Abra was alarmed by this. "What?! What the devil are- you can't break out of there like that!"

"Ye-yeah, but I bet it's a lot harder for you to-" I cut off my throat clenched up, my whole body writhing as kept pushing my hand into the barrier.

"No! Stop it! Stop being unreasonable! Damn it, one equals null such that negative lambda / κ+λ=max{κ, λ} █████████]

I stopped.

 _Hmm, not yet._

I don't know how much time passed before I could move again, but when I finally dropped to my knees Abra did so as well. I pulled myself back together quickly, though he was still breathing heavily. We stared at each other for a long moment before I shrugged awkwardly. "And that was…"

"Not… telling." Abra breathed out.

I frown. "I… guess we're supposed to banter now? Sorry, I'm still not very good at that part yet."

He scoffed as he got to his feet. "I would say theatricality is a lost art, but considering the time period we are in, I would think it would only take a little observation on your part."

A single flat laugh was my response. "So, are you going monologue about how you're so much better than me, while I give you some variation of 'you'll never get away with this'?"

"And let you stall for more time while your allies get closer? No, I don't think so." He turned and started to walk away. "Good bye, D- Machine Man. May we never meet again." He paused for a moment and looked back. "And… stay out of reach." That white glow surrounded him and an instant later he was gone.

 _But..._

It wasn't long before Kori and M'gann arrived with Fate in tow, but I was still left feeling I was missing something very important.

 _He will have to do it sooner or later._  
=====A=====


	27. 8-1

=====A=====

"I have come to a decision." Kori finally said

I stopped my work to look at the woman sitting in front of me, though she remained facing away from me. "And what's that?"

"As team leader, I am ordering that we never go into the sewers again." She said firmly.

I smiled a little as I went back to combing the kinks out of her hair. "Is this decision based on a tactical reason or a more personal one?"

"It is based on team morale." she insisted. "Given the deleterious effects the sewers had on the team's emotional wellbeing, it is only wise that we avoid the location at all costs."

I had to stifle a laugh. The team's latest mission had dragged them into the sewers and it had gone… poorly. A certain old enemy of Batman's (though new to this universe it would seem) had shown up and trashed a gala Bruce Wayne had been holding before escaping. Naturally he then contacted the team to track the villain, and filth ensued. Luck for me I actually missed most of the mission; I had finally gotten permission to tinker around with the Psion ship I had come to Earth in, and was up on the Watchtower when the call went out. I showed up in time to wrap things up.

But the rest of the team had all been tossed around by their opponent, and Kori herself had been thrown into some sludge. She had cleaned herself as best she could, but her hair was being troublesome. It certainly could have been worse though, as Kori hair was actually much easier to maintain than its length would indicate. The plasma flow that runs through it naturally keeps it clear of detritus and prevented from developing tangles. Well, mostly prevented. Turns out whatever was in that sewer causes some problems when it dries out.

Which is why she had asked me to help sort it out for her, and why we were sitting on the couch in the common room with her facing away from me. Well, she had actually gone to M'gann first, but the Martian had apparently been busy and redirected her in my direction. "But what if criminals go down there? Isn't it our duty to follow them and stop them?"

She was silent for a long more before she replied "New order. We must defeat all crime everywhere. If there are no criminals, then there will be no one we will have to pursue into the sewers."

This time I did laugh. "I'll get started on turning the world into a utopia right away, leader." She… probably wasn't being serious, but Kori had a tendency to get carried away when she got emotional. Either way it was in everyone's best interest to get her back into a good mood.

She grumbled a little before she turned her head back towards me. "Thank you for this, by the way."

I smiled back at her. "It's no problem. Besides, it's good practice." I said as I held up my hair filled hands. All four of them.

While two of my arms were human, the other two were more mechanical looking and ended in comb-like structures. Seeing as how I didn't like reverting from my human form whenever possible, I had gotten into the habit of forming mechadendrite limbs whenever I needed something my shapeshifting could solve. When I got rid of them I would have a pair misshapen spots underneath my shoulder blades for a few hours, but I thought it was a decent compromise.

And besides, I really needed the extra limbs. _My god, how does she manage this with only two limbs and backwards?_ I thought to myself as I shifted through the mass of hair. As it was I was four elbows deep into the red strands trying to carefully untangle a particularly large snare. As I worked I asked "So, is the team really in that bad of a mood?"

She sighed. "To be serious, it is more of our collective failure than the filth. We could not track the creature without being seen, and we could not subdue it when we confronted it. That we didn't know its capabilities is moot. I believe we could have rallied, but then you arrived and took care of it."

"Ah… sorry."

Kori waved her hand at me without looking. "No need to be sorry, you did what you should have. Still, since you managed it alone, the rest of the team did not get to share in the victory. Still, they will recover from the loss." She hesitated. "I… am worried about Artemis, though. She was just starting to open up, but since the incident with Fate she has been more reserved."

Ah yes, the 'incident' was one way to put it, and it still rankled me quite a bit. After we had made it back to Tower, Fate had been… reluctant to give up Artemis's body. Before things could get nasty though he was convinced to let her go by, apparently, Kent Nelson's ghost. According to Artemis the former Sorcerer Supreme used a final spell to put himself in the Helmet, riding shotgun as it were. He couldn't do anything other than talk to the wearer and Nabu, but it was enough to get Artemis free, under the condition that she would look for someone else to take up the mantle of Fate. She… was not enthused, but let it slide for the time being.

I had spoken with Red Tornado about it when we returned, and he agreed that Fate's behavior was concerning, but not completely unexpected. The android remarked that over the years after the Second World War, the Lord of Order had become more and more demanding of Nelson's time and body. It had gotten so bad that Nelson simply became fed up and quit wearing the Helmet altogether, opting to his own power to fulfill the role of Sorcerer Supreme.

And that was sixty years ago.

Regardless, there was little Red Tornado could do until someone put the Helmet on, so for the time being we were keeping the thing in the Mountain (I had suggested that we leave it in the heavily fortified Tower of Fate, but Kaldur pointed out that no one alive knew enough about the place to not get lost in/killed by it). Wally had wanted to put the Helmet on his trophy shelf before I shot it down, instead placing it inside a secret room accessible by the air vents. I did put a replica of the Helmet on Wally's shelf though, for appearances sake..

I hesitated before I went a little deeper into the knot I was working on. "Artemis… well, I get the impression that she's used to keeping things close to the chest. I don't think being direct with her about it will help." In absence of any meta-knowledge about the girl, I suspected that Artemis came from a criminal background. Nothing serious, I doubted that Batman would let her on the team otherwise, but she probably had a rough upbringing. I wouldn't have been surprised if the girl had learned to be cautious when it came to personal matters because of it.

Kori frowned a little before she turned her head back towards me. "Perhaps you could help? You are much better at speaking indirectly and the 'sass'."

I shrugged. "I'll see what I can do." I wasn't confident that I'd be able to get the heart of whatever issues she might have, but I might be able to get her to loosen up a bit for the others. In the meantime, I shifted focus. "That aside, how about you? Is being team leader treating you well?"

"It is fine." After a second she seemed to realize what she said and turned to look back at me. She didn't say anything, just stared at me with a stern expression on her face, as if daring me to insist otherwise. I simply raised my human arms in surrender, and she huffed before turning back forward. "I am proud that I have been given the chance to lead this team, though sometimes I am… uncertain of where my responsibilities begin and end."

"What do you mean?"

"I was under the impression that we were essentially a branch of the Justice League, but we do not have much interaction with the League proper. They do provide training, this mountain, and missions, but otherwise very little direct support. They certainly don't provide as much information as I would like, and they have a tendency to either leave us on our own or take over an operation entirely." She groused. "Just how independent is this team from the League? Am I supposed to entirely rely on them for direction and support, or should I be looking into that myself?"

That… was a good question, and one I didn't have a good answer to. As far as I knew this was the first time the Justice League (of this world anyway) had tried to manage a sub-team, so I guess it was no surprise that things weren't perfect. I thought about it for a moment before I responded "I'm not sure, but for the moment it might be best to start shifting towards being more logistically independent. Find a way to handle our own resources and information gathering."

Kori nodded. "Agreed. Your planet is a wonderful place, but it is also very chaotic. I feel that to lead this team properly I need to keep aware of threats that we could run into, such as Kobra and the League of Shadows." A pause. "You heard about the organization being declared a Global Threat?"

I responded with something between a grunt and a sigh. I wasn't sure what was more terrifying about Robin's last outing with Batman, what he prevented or how casually he explained it. It turned out that Ra's al Ghul was on the more extreme end of the well-meaning extremist scale in this world, and had tried to launch an orbital laser satellite that could kill _cities_. With the intent of wiping out _90% of the human population_. All in the name of environmentalism.

I just… god, I wasn't even sure how to parse that. I may have been in a comic book universe for a few months, but the idea that someone actually had the resources and will to destroy a city was terrifying to me. All the more so by how _fucking stupid_ the reason and long term plan was. Even if he managed to launch the satellite, did Ra's forget that Batman had Superman and Green Lantern on speed dial?

Either way, Batman had recorded Ra's entire doomsday monologue and had handed it over to the U.N. The League of Shadows had always been a problem for the various governments of the world, but now that had proof that the leader of the League was planning genocide, they had been declared a Global Threat. An evolution of the old naval concept 'Enemy of All Mankind', it meant that the organization or individual was such a large threat to global peace and existence that unilateral measures were allowed against them. The Justice League (and some other organizations) could engage them anywhere and anytime regardless of the sovereignty of the soil they were fighting on.

It wasn't quite the same thing as, say, a kill order, but there was a lot more leniency in that regard.

"To be honest, given how long they've supposedly been at this, I'm surprised it took as long as it did." I finished my work on her hair before I gathered it up and lifted the mass off the couch, pointing the end upwards. "Pulse."

A moment later a short burst of fire traveled down her hair and out the tip, clearing out the remnants of the tangles. I wasn't completely insensitive to heat, but normal level heat sensation still eluded me. The threshold for me to actually feel heat was much higher than what Kori's hair was generating, and then it's rather painful as at that point it causes damage to my body. This time though...

Both as the plasma passed through my hands, and as my hand brushed her shoulder as I it set it back down, I felt a sort of warm, electric tingle. Experimenting with the various Psion sensors had finally started to yield results, or at least give me a clue as to what they were for. The one I got the handle on the quickest was an electromagnetic field sensor, one meant to detect very novel manifestations. The interesting thing was that while I hadn't intended for it to work this way, the sensor translated its data into my sense of 'touch'. Even more interesting was how strongly it reacted to Kori. If I touched her I could actually 'feel' the energy moving beneath her skin.

It also worked on Superboy too, although it was more difficult to pick up. With him it felt more like a single, large source rather than numerous flowing streams.

A sound then echoed through the Mountain speakers, a soft beeping noise. Kori perked up. "It seems someone is calling the Mountain." She moved to get up, no doubt intending to head to the central room.

I stopped her though. "Hold on, I've got this." I held one of my mechanical arms out to the side and morphed it into a holographic projector. Then I concentrated, as the next part was still a little tricky for me. I still hadn't overcome my software problem, but I had been practicing with my ability to connect to devices that I had gained from Ted's box. It was still a little slow and awkward, but as long as I wasn't trying to directly process information, I did figure out how to pass it along. Basically, the Mountain's computer was still the terminal for the call, but I had just turned my arm into the monitor.

A second later the holographic screen came to life over my limb, and when I saw who it was I smiled. "Diana. Good to see you."

Wonder Woman smiled back and opened her mouth to say something but hesitated, looking between the two of us and how I had my hands buried in Kori's hair. "Am I interrupting something?"

I frowned at the amusement in her voice, but Kori simple said "Not as such, merely dealing with the fallout of our last mission. Batman sent us to Gotham to deal with some sort of clay monster that appeared. We tracked him into the sewers before he realized we were following and fought us. He was unfortunately more resilient than I anticipated, and he could shapeshift to resemble members of the team. Things became… messy very quickly, and he managed to escape us once again."

"I see..." Diana said dryly. "I had heard that 'Clayface' had been successfully captured though. So, how did you defeat it?"

"Well, it was at this point that I showed up." I said. "I entered the sewers and moved to rendezvous with my team, but Clayface found me first. Thing was, he tried to impersonate Kori to get me off my guard."

"How did you know it was not her?"

"He couldn't match her natural radiance. I mean, literally, he couldn't mimic the low level ultraviolet patterns her skin gives off." He also screwed up the heat map too, considering people are not near uniform in temperature. "Since I knew what I was facing right away, all I had to do was play along a little until I got him to look away for a moment. Then I hit him with a freeze ray, which completely neutralized him."

Diana's hologram gave me a questioning look at that last bit. "...I was not aware the team had engaged an ice villain recently. Last I was aware all the major ice villains are current locked away in Belle Reve."

"We didn't." I said as I sat up a bit straighter and smiled. "I made it myself, reverse engineered from the scans of Captain Cold's gun we have in lockup." After two months of study and practice I had finally gotten skilled enough to start building my own gear, and the freeze ray was the first bit of super-tech I had made on my own.

As I had thought, the parts and design weren't that complicated and could in fact be gotten in any high end hardware store (on this Earth anyway). It was the exact _process_ of assembly that was the tricky bit. You had to get the compressors cycling at a specific frequency as you attached the field modulators, and that was all while trying to keep the amperage down as low as possible. And even if you do all that the resulting device was very fragile and prone to emitting spontaneous bursts of alpha particles. As such I had spent the time refining the design to a much more stable one before I assimilated it.

Diana's eyebrows rose. "That is impressive. You've progressed very quickly."

I shrugged. "Not having to sleep does have it's advantages." It was a good thing I had gotten it done too. Otherwise I would have tried using microwaves to dry Clayface out, and microwaving clay can go… poorly. As in, hardened, on fire exterior combined with a molten boiling interior.

The woman merely hummed at that before she continued "Well, in any case, I apologize for doing this so soon after your last assignment but the reason I called is that I have something I would like you to look into. It shouldn't be too involved, it is just that the League is stretched thin at the moment."

Kori and I looked at each other before she turned back to Diana's image. "What do you need of us?"

"We've been getting reports of an increase in missing persons all along the east coast. These people are vagrants, homeless, runaways, those that are unfortunately often the targets of this sort of thing. I am ashamed to say that we may not have noticed it if Batman had not already been investigating a Gotham crime syndicate that deals in human trafficking. The catch is that this particular organization is not the one responsible. This is someone new."

 _Oh, this is going to be all rainbows and sunshine, isn't it?_ I thought. "This sounds pretty heavy. How is what we're going to be doing not 'too involved'?"

"At this point we are still trying to gather information." Diana said. "What I need you two to do is go to one of the locations we've gotten these reports from and investigate, ask around and see how many people have disappeared and when."

Kori frowned. "This is sounding more and more like a mission for the whole team. And a discreet one at that."

However, Diana shook her head. "No, I actually want you to be seen. Specifically you two and not the rest of the team." We gave her an odd look and she continued. "The League is setting up surveillance so that we can, as the Flash put it, 'see what bugs scurry away when the rock is flipped over'. We want to keep the team out of sight, but you two are already publicly known, so that makes you the best choice." She gave a small smile. "As well, it is always good to let people see us looking out for them."

After a moment I nodded. "Sounds reasonable enough. Where are we headed?"

"Troy, New York."

I blinked. "Oh. Ah, right. Got it."

Diana looked at me for a moment and looked like she was about to say something, but changed her mind and looked back at Kori. "So, do you think you can handle this?"

She nodded with a smile. "Of course. After the last mission I look forward to something simple."

* * *

"I blame you for this!" I yelled at Starfire over the coms as I held back a pair of men who were trying to claw my throat out, their mouths foaming and their eyes wild and bloodshot.

It had started out easy enough. Starfire and I had gone to the local police and they filled us in on the disappearances and where they were happening the most. We ended up in one of the more densely populated parts of the city, asking around if anyone knew anything. Since we were being obvious about it, we didn't get a lot of information until we ran into a particularly nervous homeless man. He said that he personally knew one of the men that had disappeared, and moreover had seen some shady activity at an abandoned building he used to squat near (He left shortly thereafter). It was longshot if it was connected or even anything at all, but Starfire and I decided to check it out anyway. Discreetly.

We were not discreet enough.

I tried shocking the two men in my grip, but the normal level of voltage I used was not enough, the men simply powering through it while grabbing for my face. I wasn't in any danger, but I was started to get worried about how much force I would need to take these men down. And the fact that the squalid apartment was starting to fill with smoke wasn't helping either. I growled in frustration as a third man came running at me. "Screw it." I pulled the two men in my grip apart before slamming them together, the third man caught in the middle.

This stunned the lot of them, but it took a few more blows before the fight finally left them and they all collapsed. I checked them over quickly and nothing seemed to be too damaged, but I would need to get them medical care as soon as possible to be sure. Given that they were wearing something akin to hospital gowns though, I had the feeling they had been on the wrong side of said care lately. I contacted Starfire over coms. "Starfire, did you light the building on fire? Because I'm not sure if that would be better or worse than if you didn't."

" _It was not I._ " She replied. " _I believe that there was some kind of lab in the basement, but everything is slagged and burning now. It is a mixed blessing that these men are escaping the blaze, but… by X'Hal, what is wrong with them?_ "

"I don't know..." I said as gathered the men up with mechadendrite limbs. "They're most likely on some kind of drug. Maybe something new?" My first thought had been Venom, but I discarded it quickly. These people weren't superhumanly strong or tough. They were just… well, _feral_. They attacked instantly and without thought, trying to bite, scratch and rip. If it was a drug what was the point of making the user a raving berserker without giving any superhuman abilities?

At a guess, I probably wasn't looking at an end product; I was looking at lab rats. Someone wanted to make something new, and needed test subjects. But with disappearances happening across multiple states, that mean this was way bigger than one guy in his basement. "Wait, Starfire, what do you mean escaping?"

" _I mean they are escaping the building!_ " she said frantically. _"_ _Given the state they are in, we have to stop them. Do you know how many civilians are around this area?_ "

"I don't know, it's been years since I've been to this- never mind. We just have to get out there and take down any we see. I'm sure they won't be hard to spot."

Men in my grip, I opted for the quick way out of the building and jumped through the window, dropping a few stories before I landed with a heavy thud. I placed the unconscious men on the ground and looked around, gritting my teeth at the number of people who had gathered around to watch the spectacle. They shouldn't be here. _I_ shouldn't be here. Closest group was about a block away, and they-

Wait, one in the back-

No. No, I have to focus on these feral men, I can't deal with that right now.

I briefly saw Starfire fly overhead before she moved around to the other side of the building, following a sudden burst of screaming. I left her to that as I focused on the street in front of me, as sure enough there was plenty for me to deal with. I spotted a man and woman in hospital gowns tearing out of the building away from me, screaming as they awkwardly ran. I fired a pair of grapple lines at them, and when they hit I channeled a fair amount of electricity down the lines and into their bodies. Even as I reeled them in I had to shock them a few more times before they went still.

I tried to scream at the civilians to get back, but as I did I was forced to get out of the way of one of the victims trying to jump on my back. I roughly smashed him into the ground and shocked him. Then there were another three trying to run away I was forced to grapple. And then more tried to come at me directly, and some of the ones I had put down earlier were starting to get back up…

On and on it went as I frantically tried to keep control of the situation without hurting anyone. But I couldn't quite do it. I felt bones breaks under my hands, and flesh burned when I put too much power into my shock. I started freezing people's legs to the ground, and that finally gave me the breathing room I needed. After a while there was no long anyone attacking me or running. I was fine. I was-

A new set of screams brought my attention back to group I had seen earlier, and the feral man that was almost on top of them. This one was apparently aware enough to have picked up a pipe and was brandishing it at the poor people. They stampeded as they tried to get out of the way, and one in the back was knocked down. The man with the pipe went after-

Panic filled me and I bolted forward, clearing the distance in a matter of seconds. The feral man's pipe was just coming down as I grabbed him and threw him to the side. The man flew across the street and smashed into a parked car, denting the vehicle before he collapsed to the ground.

I was still for a long moment before I slowly looked at the person I saved. The man shakily got to his feet before he turned to look at me. He was an older man, with male pattern baldness and white hair peppered with black. His eyes were still wide, but he managed to get control of himself as he said "Ah, wow, I, thank you. Oh, that is more excitement than is good for me." I said nothing, just looked back at him. After a moment he continued. "Oh, where are my manners?" He extended his hand out to me. "I'm George, pleasure to meet you. Sorry I don't recognize you, but you are?"

I…

I…

"I have to go."

I stumbled back as I shifted into my flight form and took off. I didn't know where I was going. I didn't care that people were shouting at me.

I couldn't be there.

* * *

The woods around me were quiet. I didn't know if anything lived around here, but it didn't matter. The wide, smoldering crater I had made where I was standing had likely scared off anything that might have been around. Everything was still. I was still. There wasn't a point to doing anything else. It simply didn't help at this point.

Time passed, I don't know how much. Eventually, she landed behind me. She didn't say anything at first, simply looking around at the space around us. I spoke. "It only works to a point. Cathartic things, like smashing things. Burning things. Breathing."

"Jacob… what happened? What is wrong?"

It was a moment before I responded. "The first time I ever felt homesick is when I first came home from college. 12 weeks away and I felt fine, but when I came home and saw how my old room had become a guest room, I realized that it wasn't mine any more. That the place I called home didn't quite exist anymore."

"I don't understand."

I continued looking ahead. "I… _don't_ know that man. I never met before today. But I knew of him, I looked him up. I knew I could never met him. Or his wife, or his sons. Because then I would have to admit it."

I heard her take in a breath behind me, and I kept talking. "It doesn't matter how good I get at this superhero thing, doesn't matter what tech I consume. I've gotten no closer to it than when I first got here, and nothing I've seen or done has helped."

Kori stepped in front of me and I finally moved, turning slightly to look at her. "... I'm never going home again, am I?"

She said nothing, only staring sorrowfully back at me. Then, she slowly moved towards me, wrapping her arms around me and pressing her forehead to mine. Eventually, I wrapped my arms around her as well.

I didn't breakdown.

But only because I couldn't.

=====A=====


	28. 8-2

=====A=====

I walked slowly down the paved road and past the gravestones that lined it, the grey and overcast sky matching my mood. The trees scattered around the cemetery were swaying in a light breeze, but otherwise it was quiet as I walked. I didn't really want to be here, but I knew Diana was here. And I needed to apologize for what I did on the mission.

It had been a bit of a hike from the nearest Zeta Tube to the Massachusetts National Cemetery, but I decided to take a cab rather than fly. I didn't know exactly how the government would view a superhero flying into a veterans' cemetery (and one that looked like he was wearing power armor to boot), but I figured it would probably be more respectful to enter on foot. Either way, the guard at the gate had only given me a sidelong glance before letting pass through. Considering who else was showing up today, I suppose he wasn't that surprised.

The eulogy for Mr. Nelson had been several days' earlier back in Salem, but due to some complications it wasn't until now they could put the man's body to rest. I hadn't known until that day that he had a plot here, but it turned out his civilian identity had been officially enlisted in the military during the war. The team had been invited to both the eulogy and burial, much to my surprise (though I was the only one who chose to go to the later). Alright, it probably wasn't that surprising considering we were the last to see him alive and take the helmet in. It's just… I didn't feel I deserved it. He died on my watch. If only-

 _No, stop that_ , I thought as I shook my head. I'm already morose enough right now. I don't need an extra layer of guilt on top of that too.

Eventually I found the spot I was looking for some distance away from the road, as small group of people clustered around a steadily descending coffin. _Damn, I'm later than I thought_. And worse I didn't see the person I was looking for. Still, I didn't want to interrupt the somber moment, so I remained where I was until the casket finished lowering and the first bits of dirt were poured on. As some people began to move away, I picked one that I recognized and approached. "Excuse me sir?"

Alan Scott, for his age, still had a presence and vigor about him. His face may have been creased and his blonde hair receding, but he stood straight and looked back at me firmly. "Ah, you were one of the lads at the eulogy. What can I do for you, son?"

"I'm looking for Diana, have you seen her?"

He arched an eyebrow. "Oh, she's Diana to you already, hmm?" He said with a hint of amusement. "Took me ages to stop calling her Princess, but I guess I was old fashioned even back then. Are all you kids so informal or are you looking for some more?"

"Uhhh…" I said intelligently, not expecting the turn this conversation had taken.

Fortunately I was saved as someone came up behind the other man. "Come on Alan, don't scare off the kid. He'll start thinking all us old timers are weird." Even with a weathered face and gray hair, Jay Garrick seemed as lively as a man half his age as he swatted his old teammate on the shoulder.

Alan smirked and looked back. "And what's the point of being an old timer if I can't mess with the new blood every now and then?"

"Early bird diner specials and the ability to lecture everyone one on how good everything was in the past?" I ventured.

The man barked out a laugh at this. "I'm not _that_ foggy in the head yet."

I cracked a smile, and then remembered my manners. "Ah, I probably should have done this earlier." I said as I held out my hand. "Jacob Morgan. It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Scott."

He shook with one hand and waved me of with the other. "Please, if you're already using first names with Diana, you can call me Alan."

"And Jay's fine with me." The speedster behind him said. "I remember seeing you on the news a few weeks back. That was some good work you did in New York."

"Thank you, sir." I said, shifting my weight. Wanting to avoid social awkwardness, I kept the conversation going. "So, do you see Diana often these days?"

Jay shrugged. "Not as much as I'd like, but I still see her about once a year. It's Alan that she's close to though."

"Don't make it sound like more than it is." Alan said before he looked back at me. "Diana still visit's me regularly. She's been a great friend since my wife passed all those years ago. And after she-" He stopped before he started again. "Anyway, I could talk your ear off with all the stories I have piled up in this head of mine about her. Jay, remember the look on those Germans' faces when they saw her in her costume for the first time?"

The two laughed, and I hesitated. I did need to talk to Diana… but this was my chance to get an explanation for something I had been wondering about. "If you don't mind my asking, just why is Diana's costume…"

"A star spangled showgirl outfit?" Alan said with a chuckle before he looked around nervously. "Don't tell her I said that."

Jay explained "Back when the All Star Squadron was first getting together, she told the higher ups that she needed some new armor bearing their colors. Something about being a representative for them during the war rather than her own nation. Anyway, she asked for a design she could send back home to be made into armor, something befitting a woman in battle. But, some people back then had _views_ on women, let alone one that wanted to go to the front lines. So, they sent back that."

"…and she never realized it was an insult?" I asked.

Alan snorted. "Son, she absolutely knew. She just didn't _care_. They thought they could shame her by giving her a revealing outfit? She took that stupid outfit, put it on, and proceeded to beat the tar out of every kraut she came across. And she kept wearing it after the war too. Now, women everywhere can look at her and see someone that didn't let anyone push them down. She made it hers."

I was taken aback by the intensity in his voice, but it felt… good to see someone with that level of respect for one of my childhood icons. "Well, I'd love to hear more sometime, but I really do need to talk to her."

Alan hummed as he pointed off in a direction. "Last I saw she went that way, a little before we started lowering Kent. Said she'd be back before we started, but I guess she got distracted."

"Great. Well, I hope to see you again sometime, it was nice meeting you." I said as I turned and left. The two were a little nonplussed at my abruptness, but they let me go regardless.

I walked for about a minute or two before I saw her, easy to spot as she was the only person in this part of the cemetery. She had her back to me as I got closer, putting her focus on a gravestone in front of her. "Diana." I called out as I approached. She gave a small start as she turned to look at me. I started to say something but stopped. Now that I had stepped to the side of her, I could read what the gravestone said.

 _Here lies Stephen Rockwell Trevor_

 _Friend. Patriot. Hero._

 _1919-1997_

Oh. How did I not think about _why_ Wonder Woman might be in a graveyard by herself? "Oh… I came here to apologize for how I acted on the mission, but I didn't realize… I'm sorry I should go-"

"No, no, it is fine." She said with a wave of her hand. "I didn't mean to spend so long. It seems I became lost in thought."

"You can take as much time as you want." I insisted.

She glanced back at the gravestone before giving me an odd look. "Ah. Sometimes I forget how much you know about us, personally. I haven't talked about Steve in a long time." She sighed at the look of confusion and asked "How much do you know about Steve Trevor?"

I considered my words carefully before I said "Not much, other than that he was frequently a love interest for you. Sometimes he lived in the modern age, but usually he was associated with the time when you first left Themyscira. I'm guessing World War Two by the date."

"Love interest..." She said flatly. "A quaint way of summing up my relationship with the first man I ever met."

I flinched a little at that, which Diana saw. "Sorry," she said. "I haven't talked about Steve for a _very_ long time. Hearing him reduced to such a description is… unpleasant."

"I'm sorry." I said, not sure what else to say.

Diana seemed to consider something for a long moment before she spoke. "Well, I suppose you might as well know. Steve and I loved each other, but our relationship was not easy. Both of us were frequently called away to do our respective work. We had talked about starting a family several times, but we never seemed to make the time for it. I kept telling myself that I would always have time for it later." Her shoulders slumped as she looked back at the grave. "I had the time. But he didn't."

Her tone became distant, and she almost seemed to be talking more to herself than to me. "I couldn't tell you when it happened, but one day… Steve had become old. Too old to be rearing children. I tried to convince him otherwise, but he was stubborn about it. The days passed, and more and more he became self-conscious about us, about how I was still young while he grew older. I think he didn't want me to feel shackled to him, and so we started to… drift apart."

He voice was barely above a whisper as she said "And before I knew it, he was gone. Died of a heart attack while I was back on Themyscira. He always did push himself too hard. I wonder… is this how it's always going to be, for every person I get close to?"

I had no words for that. All I could do was step closer and place my hand on her shoulder, looking down at the grave with her. _I suppose I'll learn myself someday_ , I thought as I gently squeezed her shoulder. I then noticed Diana looking at me strangely. At first I was worried I had overstepped my bounds and took a step back, but then I realized what it was. "I said that out loud, didn't I?"

She nodded and gave me an expectant look. I internally debated for a moment before I gave in and explained. "Ted and Serling have gone over the data about my nanomachines's structure and replication ability a number of times. It's hard to be certain, but as far as they can tell there is no signs of degradation. There's no reason I can't repair and replace my nanites indefinitely. I'm… immortal. Well, ageless, in any case." I gave a mirthless chuckle. "Funny. I've been given something people would, and have, killed for, completely out of nowhere. And I don't even know how to feel about it."

After a moment Diana spoke, her tone soft. "I didn't mean to make it sound that my life was unbearable because of this. I-"

I held up a hand. "I know. I'll probably find my own way of dealing with it at some point. Though." I said as I gave her a small smile. "I suppose if nothing else, it's nice to know that you'll always be there in case I need help with it."

Diana look at me for a long moment before she returned the smile. Then, she let out a long sigh, closing her eyes and rubbing the back of her neck. "Oh, this conversation took a far more serious turn than I intended. Might I suggest we move on to much less somber topics?"

"Do lets." I replied as I glanced around.

She opened her eyes and her smile became something much more mischievous. "So, have you started courting Koriand'r yet?"

That brought me up short, and there was a pause before I turned back to look at her. "I don't know what you're talking about."

She arched an eyebrow and her smirk widened. "Really? So, you brushing her hair, or fussing over her every time I see you two, is what exactly?"

"That's just- I mean it's just how we-" I started and stopped several times as I tried to explain and change the subject, but the woman's smile quickly informed me that I wasn't getting out of this one. Eventually, I just gave up. I pinched the bridge of my nose as I said "Diana… I'm 28."

The woman straightened a little. "You are? That is… older than I thought."

"I figured." I said flatly. Even back before I turned into what I am now, people had problems getting my age right. I was either 7 years younger or older than I actually was depending on if I had a beard at the time. Not entirely sure how that translated to my new body, but it looked like without giving myself some chin dusting people were leaning towards younger. "To be honest I'm not exactly sure what my teammates think my age is. No one's really ever asked. How old did you think I was?"

"21, 22." Diana said as she gave me an appraising look. "Why haven't you said anything earlier? I would have thought that someone of your age would have objected more to working with teenagers."

"I mean, most of those teenagers could kick my ass at the time, so I didn't think I had the ability to be picky. Besides, Batman knows. Probably. At least, I think he figured it out." I hesitated. "Would it have changed anything?"

"…Maybe. Even when I thought you were only a little older than the rest of the team, I had assumed that you would only be with them for a short while. Given this, I would have wondered if a man of your age would have been appropriate for the team." I tensed a little bit at that, but a moment later she said "Still, considering the work you've done so far and how well you're fitting in, there wouldn't be a point in removing you now."

She made a small sound. "Well, I suppose I'll talk to Batman about it. However, what does your age have to do with you and Koriand'r?"

I looked at her confused for a moment before I realized. "…it occurs to me that you might not be the best person to empathize with this particular issue." Diana was 85 years old, and was in turn raised by women who were millennia old. The difference in age between myself and Kori were likely barely noticeable to her.

Still, she was quick on the uptake and raised her eyebrows in understanding. "Ah. You are concerned about being older than her."

"I'm a decade older than her. Probably. The ambiguity really doesn't help." None of us exactly knew how old Kori was, even herself. Her captors had been more focused on torture rather than keeping her up to date on what the year was. And since she had come to Earth immediately after we escaped, she had no frame of reference. We managed to puzzle out that she was the human equivalent of 15-16 when she had been captured, and it had been at least several years since then. But beyond that she didn't know.

"And this is a problem for you?"

"Well… I mean, it's questionable at least."

Diana's hand went to her hip as she stared at me. "Let me phrase it differently: do you not think she is an adult?"

I was silent for a long moment. My thoughts went back over the past few months, of fighting beside her, of living with her, of her interacting with the rest of the team. I thought about the two of us yesterday, about her worry over those she was leading, and how best to direct the team going forward. "…no, she's an adult."

"Then what is the issue?"

I waved my hand as I started to pace. "It's not just that, it's a bunch of things. She's basically my commanding officer, I have to think about how it would look to the rest of the team, and I'm… a mess. Every time I think I have a handle on my life something comes along to prove me wrong. And the less said about me physically, the better."

Diana's face changed to one of concern. "Does your appearance really bother you so-"

"Not my appearance." I said flatly. She looked at me in confusion for a few moments before I made a face. It took a few moments before Diana's eyebrows shot up and she gave me a questioning look. I simply shook my head and she grimaced. "Ah. I see. So, that's it then?"

I frowned at her and gave a halfhearted shrug. "It's just probably not a good idea."

She looked at me evenly for a long moment. Finally, she hummed. "Well, I can see that you've been thinking about this. However, I noticed you neglected to address one thing in that list of yours."

"And what's that?"

She looked me in the eyes and asked "Do you want her?"

"…I don't see how that's relevant."

She gave me that infuriating smile again, though this time there was something sad in it. "Jacob, you've been through a lot over these past few months, and I understand that you are still dealing with your situation. But take it from me, you don't always have as much time as you think you do."

I was going to argue some more, but at that moment my com activated. " _Batman to Machina, I have a mission for the team. Be back in the Mountain in 10 minutes._ "

"Understood." I replied before looking back at Diana. "That was Batman. I have a mission, so…" I trailed off awkwardly. I then realized that I had completely failed to do what I had come here to do in the first place. "Oh, right, uh, before I go, I came here to say I was sorry about how I behaved in-"

The woman stopped me. "I know. Batman told me what happened, and I understand." She looked at me firmly. "However, next time I need you to tell me if you might have a problem like this on a mission. Don't just keep it to yourself."

I nodded, and after a long silence I left.

* * *

When the light from the Zeta Tube faded, I was greeted by the sight of the entire team gathered in the center of the room, Batman in front of all of them. The lot turned to look at me as I entered, and I swiftly covered the distance to join them. "Sorry I'm late, it was a bit of a hike to the nearest Zeta Tube."

"No problem big guy. We can't all move at the speed of sound." Wally said in a tone that was less consoling than it was bragging. "Maybe you should try eating a Zeta Tube."

"It's a little more complicated than that…" I said as I reached the group. Out of the corner of my eye I caught Kori looking at me. I turned to look at her fully, and her expression became one of mild concern. My mouth pressed thin, but I gave her a slight nod.

It was a few seconds before I realized that Batman had started talking. "-become aware of an increasing number of missing persons along the east coast. Yesterday the League, working with Machina and Starfire, found some of these people."

Behind him a number of holographic screens opened up, showing the aftermath of the small scale riot I had seen firsthand, along with pictures of some of the tests subjects strapped down to gurney or locked in observing rooms. "These people have been experimented on to induce some kind of feral state. All traces of higher functions are overwhelmed and replaced with more animalistic ones. Due to the fire that broke out, they defaulted to aggression."

"So what exactly caused this?" I asked the senior superhero. "Drugs, a virus, brain surgery…"

"Cybernetics." Batman said, and an x-ray schematic appeared on a screen next to him. "A device connected to the brainstem, reaching all the way from the midbrain to the start of the spinal column. In spite of our best efforts we haven't be able to ascertain how they work, or even what their primary function is. The only thing that's clear is that they are Earth based in origin and are capable of both receiving and emitting signals."

"What kind of signals we talking here?" Wally said. "Electromagnetic, vibrations, or something weirder?"

"The implants receive basic radio waves, albeit encrypted. The signal they put out is much more… exotic." The screen behind him switched to a video of a medical lab, one of the patients thrashing against her restraints keeping her to her chair. A pair of people in lab coats were trying to administer something, but the woman managed to bite one on the arm. The man flinched and struck the woman across the face. His partner tried to intervene, but the two got into a shouting match before they started throwing punches at each other. Batman continued. "It is much less pronounced compared to the original subjects, but people around them experience an increase in aggression, hunger, and other… baser drives."

Kori frowned. "Now that you mention it, I do remember feeling particularly aggravated when dealing with these poor souls. But I assume it was because I was facing- well, I had not given it much thought."

"Hmm. Sounds like this is some kind of botched mind control project…" I mused as I looked closer at the scans, calling up every last bit of medical knowledge I could remember. The implant's location did make it ideal for controlling baser impulses, but what could possibly be gained from it?

I then blinked, remembering something from the fight. "Wait, just how did these implants get there? I got a pretty close look at these people while fighting them and I didn't see any surgical scars."

"That's because they have none. Before we managed to figure out how to deactivate the implants, subjects showed substantial regenerative ability. Strong enough that lacerations would heal completely in hours, broken bones in days. Like everything else, how exactly these implants manage this is still unclear."

Robin whistled. "That's some impressive tech. Imagine if the guy who made this took out the perma-rage and went into healthcare. The insurance companies would be toast."

Batman's face became stern. "Even ignoring the mental effects of this implant the regeneration also places a massive amount of stress on the body. If it keeps up for too long it will eventually result in multiple organ failure. And that is to say nothing of the damage the implant itself inflicts on the brain during operation. We've already seen minor brain damage in the individuals we brought in."

"Will they recover?" M'gann asked in concern.

"We don't know as of yet, but the mission of this team is to prevent this from happening again." A new holographic window opened next to him showing the profile of a well-built man with close cropped hair and a number of scars on his face. "Tyler Reynolds is a small time mercenary, and the one in charge of watching the lab/storage area that Starfire and Machina found. He is the one that set the fire to destroy the evidence, but in his haste he let out the test subjects as well. Fortunately, the League was in position to pick him up and prevent things from getting too out of hand."

"Great, so do we know who's doing this?" I asked.

"No. Reynolds himself doesn't know. He was given instructions from a burner phone, and was paid via an offshore bank account. He made it a point of not learning the names or associating with anyone else he met at that lab."

"Professional…" Robin said as he cupped his chin with his hand. "Given the scale of this it's looking less like a criminal organization and more like a governmental or corporate one. Any other leads?"

"The Justice League is looking into the identity of the backer. For now, this team will be headed to where these test subjects were to be dropped off. Reynolds may not have known who he was working for or what their end goal was, but he did have instructions to bring the 'cargo' to a designated point via truck in a few days. Your job is to investigate the area covertly and find any clues you can, either to who's doing this or why."

We all nodded in understanding, but Superboy then spoke up. "What about Kaldur? Shouldn't he be here for this too?"

Batman turned to the half Kryptonian. "Aqualad is on a leave of absence for personal reasons. I don't foresee him being critical for this assignment. Unless you think otherwise…"

"Hey, no problem." Robin said quickly with a smirk. "Dude's earned his vacation. Just leave this to us." Superboy frowned, but he let it slide.

Batman nodded. "Good." He gestured, and the screen behind him changed to show a map of the U.S., focusing on one state in particular. "Your target is located in Louisiana…"

=====A=====


	29. 8-3

=====A=====

I slipped through the underbrush in my xenomorph form, the thick foliage of the Louisiana bayou covering my approach to my target. Night had fallen by the time the team had gotten ready and headed down to the state, but that suited us just fine. There had been some confusion over how the coordinates Batman had given us led to the middle of nowhere, but we went there anyway. And I am glad we did. "So, what exactly are we looking at?" I asked over coms, stopping before the foliage gave way to something less natural.

" _If I didn't know any better, I'd say we were looking at some kind of forward operating base._ " Robin replied, unseen but also hiding out among the bushes on the other side of the artificial clearing. Before us in a slightly razed part of the woods there was a cluster of large tents, crates and vehicles. Given its size, I was surprised that there were only a little under a dozen people in forest camo milling about. Maybe they were expecting more people to show up later? Robin continued. " _Professional, but not military. I'd guess ex-military mercenaries judging by their gear and boot treads._ "

" _Wait, you can tell they're ex-military from that?_ " Kid Flash remarked skeptically.

I glanced up above the camp to look at the tell-tale infrared ripple of Moya in stealth mode, where the rest of the team was observing from while Robin and I scouted. "It's a very distinctive boot print." I added.

Robin ignored me and said " _Their assault rifles aren't kitted out in any standard configuration. Their outfits are forest camo with no insignia or markings, so that rules out any official military, and they are way too well equipped to be a local militia. And if this was a black ops run by the US they would be trying harder to impersonate a foreign power so they could shift the blame if they got caught._ "

"…Do I want to know why you know how US black ops squads operate?" I asked. He didn't reply, but I could _feel_ the smug smirk.

Starfire brought us back on track. " _So, it is not clear who these men swear allegiance to, but whoever it may be they are responsible for the horrendous crimes against those people we found. Machina, Robin, can you investigate closer?_ "

" _Yeah, but if these guys are competent, anything that would actually tell us something will be watched constantly._ " Robin said. " _I found the communications tent, but if that thing has decent encryption on it, I won't crack it fast enough before someone notices. And if we're taking down one of them…_ "

Starfire caught on to what was implying. " _Ah, I see. Then perhaps we should ask more directly._ "

" _I get the feeling they're not in the most talkative mood right now, Starfire._ " Artemis remarked.

"I think we can warm them up a bit." I said dryly. "Still, we should keep it discreet. Don't want any of them radioing out and telling their bosses." Batman was vague about it, but before we had left he told us that he had jammed outgoing communication from the lab in Troy before it went up in flames. We should have the element of surprise on our side.

" _Fine by me._ " Robin said gleefully. " _Most takedowns wins?_ "

"One, that's really unprofessional, and two, you're on."

I took a moment to analyze the movement of the soldiers before I picked one close by doing a perimeter check. I slinked along the ground towards him, waiting and watching as he scanned the environment. I froze just before his flashlight swept over my position, but he didn't seem to notice me underneath the foliage, and his light kept moving. The moment he had his back turned I dashed forward. As I got behind him I stood, one hand covering his mouth and the other to his chest. He barely had time to react before I shocked him into unconsciousness and dragged his body into the greenery.

With my enhanced hearing I picked up a series of thuds followed by muffled cries from the other side of the camp. Robin had taken care of three, if I had to guess. I moved a little deeper in to camp, towards a pair that were talking near a jeep. I pressed myself flat to the ground and slid underneath the vehicle, shimmying until I was facing the legs of the two. I very carefully grew another set of arms and extended all four limbs out and up snaking them up behind the men. It wasn't as smooth or fast as I liked, but I was fast enough that the limbs clamped around their mouths and chests before they could shout. A little electricity later and two more were down.

Robin tripped one into a tent and silenced him.

I found another two in a tent and took them down.

Robin ended up dealing with another one that went into the first tent looking for the first group he dispatched.

Soon enough there was only one guy standing in the middle of an empty camp, looking very confused as to where the hell everyone went. He grabbed the radio off his belt and started to raise it to his mouth.

Some distance on the other side of the soldier I saw Robin pop out from around the corner of a tent, a birdarang in hand and ready to fly at his target.

I stepped out the tent and took aim, my limb forming a grapple attachment.

Before either of us could do anything though, a green arrow with a cylindrical head struck the man's radio from above and stuck to it. He stared at the offending object in confusion before electricity surged from the device and shocked him unconscious.

Robin and I paused before we both looked up. There, in an apparent hole in the sky where Moya's floor had opened up, stood Artemis with bow in hand and a smirk on her face. "You were taking too long."

I snorted and looked around before I said "Camp secure."

"Good." Starfire said as she flew down from the gap. "Secure the men. Let's find out what they were here for."

* * *

While Robin got to work on the computer in the communications tent, we stripped down the men of their gear and tied them up with what we had at hand. The men who regained consciousness quickly were uncooperative, as expected. Miss Martian was able to dive into their minds, but success was unfortunately limited. She learned that these men belonged to a PMC named Black Hound Securities, and that this particular venture was off the books. The orders came from pretty high up, and these men weren't the type to ask questions. Beyond that, the men (the conscious ones anyway) only knew that they would be starting an operation in the area in a day or two.

Fortunately, it only took Robin about 20 minutes to hack into the communications computer. He lamented about how the device's security was much more difficult to crack than it should have been, but it still amazed me that he could do it at all with a wrist mounted computer. Like, everything I know about cryptography told me that it should have been impossible. I really needed to ask him how that thing worked at some point.

In any case, in short order the lot of us were gathered in the communication tent. Aside from the large table with a map of the bayou in the center of it, one side of the tent was taken up by communication equipment and a weather-hardened PC. Robin hummed as he quickly browsed the files. "Pretty minimal, looks like whoever's running this operation is a fan of compartmentalization. Looks like this group is one of at least five different staging areas for an op that will be running in two days. They have a target somewhere in the bayou, and they're going to use all the people they captured to attack it."

"Can you be more specific on who or what the target is? Or where?" Starfire asked.

"Nope, though for the latter question they genuinely don't seem to know. This operation is written up as a search and destroy." Robin said with a frown. "The target is simply referred to as 'Original Subject'. So, it looks like these guys have been at this for a while. But why the hell are they sending a bunch of random abductees-turned-berserkers after it? They're not exactly the cream of the crop."

"Getting the most out of their failures?" Superboy asked, his tone and body tense. He then frowned and looked to the side at Miss Martian, who was looking at him with a worried look. The two were likely communicating telepathically, so I turned away and started to pace.

I was missing something, I knew I was. This sort of operation was huge for just one target, and as Robin pointed out, those ferals wouldn't be of much use in this kind of terrain. And wrangling the numbers which we had seen disappear would be a nightmare. Who were these people and what did they make that was wandering around this swamp?

Well… I mean, there was a certain _thing_ around these parts, but that couldn't be what they were talking about. Could it?

Robin continued. "There are some files detailing how to work with the 'augmented emitters' as they're calling them. Mostly it's what commands you can give them and what frequencies to send to their implants to turn them on and off. But there are also some technical writings and they're… weird. It keeps referencing something, but I can't figure out if it keeps getting cut off or that's its actual name." he scrolled to a particular section as read it off. "'Optimal resonances for propagation of the Red carrier wave is listed in subsection theta. Use in conjunction with multiple augmented emitters to achieve proper Red coverage and neutralize floronic effects. Mitigation of side effects of the Red amplification in augmented emitters is of secondary importance.' The red what? And how's that supposed to affect the plant life?"

I slowed and came to a stop, a frown forming on my face. "…is the 'R' capitalized?"

"Yeah, it is. Why?"

I didn't answer immediately, my mind racing. It was possible it wasn't what I thought it was. This was the first time I had ever heard anything about anything called 'the Red' since I got here. It might not be what I thought it was… but with that bit of information, the pieces I had were coming together into a very particular picture. And man did it look like what I thought it was.

I was silent for a long moment as I considered how I wanted to handle this, but in the end it wasn't much of a choice. There were too many coincidences for me to just ignore this, and I had neither the desire nor the skill to manipulate the team into doing what I wanted without telling them anything. That meant telling them what I knew, if not how I knew it. "I'm pretty sure I know what it's talking about."

Superboy arched an eyebrow at me. "So, it's a tech thing?"

"Nope, it's magic. The Red is the elemental kingdom of animal life. Think of it like the great web of life, by which all animals are connected."

Predictably, Wally snorted. "Yeah, right-" he stopped when he saw my expression. "Oh god you're serious."

"It is an explanation for the test subject's behavior." I offered. "If the files are correct, amplifying the host's connection to the Red would make them revert to a more animalistic behavior. And if it's essentially supercharging natural functions, that would explain the regeneration too. And if these things are emitting it, that's why everyone around them becomes more aggressive as well."

Robin was not convinced. "That's… an interesting explanation. And just what led you to this conclusion?"

"The fact that we are in Louisiana. The bayou is where the champion of the Green lives."

That wasn't the response he was expecting. "What? There's a Green too?"

"The elemental kingdom of plants." I confirmed. "Doesn't necessarily get along with the Red either. I can't remember who the Red's equivalent is, but the champion of the Green is a plant elemental that lives around these parts. He's also kind of originally the result of a science project of a certain company."

"Look, Machina," Kid Flash said gravely. "I know we just went through some weird stuff with that Tower fiasco, but that doesn't mean every weird and not immediately obvious thing is magic! There could be any number of simpler explanations than zombie animal magic emitters versus plant magic monster!"

I gave a half shrug. "I'm not saying we shouldn't make sure first. I'll admit, a lot of this is based on unverified data and a lot of conjecture… but I have a lot of random facts stored in whatever I have in place of a brain, and a lot of them are starting to line up with what I've seen here. If I'm right, then whether these people mean to or not, this could spark a war."

"I think you're missing the bigger point here. Like, how do you know all this?" Robin demanded.

Helplessly, I shrugged. "Ask Batman."

I could tell that the boy rolled his eyes behind his mask. "This isn't the time for games, Machina! How do you know?"

"I'm not playing around, I'm being serious, ask Batman. I'm not at liberty to talk about it."

Superboy glared at me. "What's that supposed to mean? The hell do you and Batman know that the rest of us aren't supposed to?"

"I… really have no way to respond to that." I said in frustration.

Artemis folded her arms across her chest. "I don't like this. I feel like this is the sort of thing you should have told us earlier. What else are-" She cut herself off as I shot her a glare, and she realized that she wasn't in a position to ask me that question. She looked away, and I felt like a small weight was pressing down on me.

Robin turned to Starfire angrily. "You can't seriously be thinking about going along with this?!"

Starfire turned to me, and for a moment we looked at each other, that little bit of confirmation passing between us. She looked back at Robin and said "I trust him. Obviously we'll need to investigate and confirm, but for the moment our best lead is the other encampments, which I doubt will have any more information than this one. Black Hound is another, but we should look into this other company first given the possible severity of the situation. If our search turns up nothing, we will stage an assault and at least stop whatever it is these people are doing."

Not for the first time, I was really glad that Starfire knew the truth about me. Convincing her that I wasn't making shit up with all my talk of magic plant beings and cybernetic animal magic would have been… actually there was a good chance she would have trusted me anyway, now that I think about it. But I still would have felt terrible about it.

Robin growled in frustration, but he finally relented under the gaze of our leader and turned to me. "Alright, fine, the faster we prove this nonsense wrong, the faster we can get back to looking at Black Hound and finding out who's really behind this. What's the name of the company?"

"The Sunderland Corporation."

* * *

The team split up. Starfire pointed out that we should still keep an eye on the other camps to see if anything could be learned, and in case there was anything else nefarious that needed to be stopped. So, while the rest of the team headed through the bayou to the other camps, Robin and I took Moya to town. Layfaette was the nearest city to our location and, surprise surprise, Sunderland had a local office there. A few quick internet searches later, we also found out that Sunderland was the parent company of Black Hound Securities. I couldn't tell if Robin was mollified or irritated by this discovery.

I also found out that Sunderland was the parent company of Cryptarch Industries. That was an… interesting coincidence. I couldn't see how it might be connected, but it was something to keep in mind.

Of course, to find out more we needed to go to the source. Sunderland's offices were on the top floors of a skyscraper downtown, so it was easy for Robin to get rooftop access. I suggested going with him, but he emphatically insisted that on doing it alone. Part of it was because he felt I wouldn't be of any additional help, but I suspected that it was also because he was angry at me. Trying to force the issue probably wouldn't have made things better, so I let him go alone while I flew above the building. If he needed me, I would just have to come down through the roof.

In the meantime, I took the opportunity to make a call. I waited a few seconds for the long range communion radio to connect. It normally didn't take this long, but I was going through the secure channel, as I really didn't want anyone listening in to this. It still annoyed me that we had to do this sort of thing by radio though. I had an idea of modifying the Zeta Tube tech into a much less complicated ansible setup for long range communications. Effectively limitless range, no signal interference, and near-impossible to intercept. Problem was I had taken a look at Zeta technology and the underlying math and _man_ is it complicated. I had learned a lot in the past few months, but mastering the mechanics behind exotic particle manipulation to form stable Einstein-Rosen bridges was going to take a bit.

Finally I head the connecting tone. "Machina to Batman, we have a bit of a situation."

" _I know._ " The gruff voice on the other end said. I had gotten used to the superhero enough to recognize he was displeased. " _Robin contacted me._ "

"How- never mind." I started to ask before I stopped. Of course Robin would have his own direct line to Batman. "So, do you know the situation?"

" _Whoever abducted these people are controlling them though their implants with 'the Red'. You informed the team that it was a major source of animal magic, and it was likely being used against the current champion of plant magic_."

"Yeah, that's about right." I said before I paused. "At least, I hope it's right. I'm going off memory. I don't suppose you managed to look into this after that particularly long debrief?" Back when Batman and I had gone over everything I knew about DC, the Green and the Red had come up. I hadn't really thought about it since then.

" _I spoke with a few experts in magic, and yes, they do exist as you remember them. I'm contacting the League now to inform them of this development_." He said before his tone turned harder. " _However, that is not the issue here. The issue is that you told the team in the first place._ "

I scowled at the open air. "We didn't have any leads, and even if we did the team needed to know what we're getting into. What would you have had me do?"

" _Inform myself as quickly and discretely as possible. After which the League would-_ "

"Handle it." I interrupted flatly. "Sir, the League is stretched thin as it is, and we are already in position to deal with it ourselves. _We_ can handle this."

" _This could be handled without you revealing sensitive information to your teammates. The League is not stretched so thin that we cannot prioritize this, nor are we as short on time as you seem to think. Regardless of how the rest of your team feels about it, you took an unneeded risk by involving them, and you have likely made it harder for both myself and you in the future._ "

I was silent for a long moment as I considered it. He wasn't wrong. Robin was already cross at me about secrets I was keeping, and Superboy wasn't terribly happy with the excuses I gave. And Artemis… Well, in hindsight maybe it would have been easier if I had just let the League deal with it.

And yet…

Before I could say anything, Robin's voice cut in from the other channel. " _I'm in._ "

I hesitated for a moment longer before I quickly said to Batman "Robin's calling, we'll talk later." I closed the channel before responding to my teammate. "What have you got?"

" _The executive's suites are locked up tight, but the accounting department less so._ " Robin said. " _If Sunderland is responsible there has to be some kind of money trail for funding all of this, at least for the local operations. Give me a second… alright, there's definitely something shady going on. A large amount of money is being shuffled from department to department, trying to hide where it's going._ "

"Can you figure it out?"

A snort. " _Please, who do you think you're talking to? I just run this through my analysis program and… damn. Looks like a lot of it is going to Black Hound under the table. I guess you are at least partially right._ "

"…Do you have to sound so disappointed by that?"

" _Anyways, that's not the only thing they've been paying for. There's been a number of payments going to several parties of 'consultants', probably mercenaries like the one in Troy. There's also a particularly large payment to an 'information correlation specialist', though I have no idea who that… Huh, looks like there are expenses attached to that particular account too._ "

"Sunderland has them on retainer?"

" _Something like that. The company purchased a property here in the city, along with a lot of high end computer equipment._ " He rattled of an address. " _And a direct network connection to the company servers. We're looking at a local communication hub for the operation… and there's a back door into it from here! Give me a minute!_ "

52 seconds later he said " _Got it! Man there's a lot of traffic going through here-_ " He stopped for a long moment. " _What? Oh no, this is bad, they moved up the time table! The operation is starting now!_ "

I froze in the air. "What? Why? They shouldn't know about us yet."

" _I don't know, but- Hey!_ "

"Now what's wrong?"

" _There's another hacker in here. Network security. Not a problem, I can-_ " He cut himself off with a strangled noise. " _Wait, how did he- No, I'm just going to reroute and- what?! How the hell is he-_ " Robin cut himself off again with a yelp. " _He, he just fried the CPUs on my terminal! How the hell is that even possible?!_ "

I silently cursed and opened the com to the rest of the team. "This is Machina, we have a problem. Robin just confirmed that Sunderland is overseeing the operation, but they're starting it now."

" _I can see that…_ " Starfire responded. " _The camp we were observing just suddenly became active. They are preparing to move out their slaves. We have to stop them now._ "

Robin growled. " _I'm still plugged into the network, but my hacking ability has be shot. I can keep track of things if I stay here, but that's not going to mean much with the counter-hacker I ran into manning the network hub._ "

" _Then we must cripple the enemy's ability to communicate._ " Starfire said resolutely. " _Take out the hub before they are aware that we are on the attack._ "

I let out a grunt and took off, shooting toward the address Robin had given me. "I'm on my way. I'll take it out." Robin started to protest but I continued. "We'll lose valuable time extracting you from the building, not to mention getting you back. I'm just going to go over there and shut down all their stuff, nothing complicated."

" _You sure you want to be the one to take on a hacker that beat Robin, 'Machina'?_ " Kid Flash said as he stressed my name.

"Kid Flash, as far as I know there's only one person in the world with the specific technical genius that could even attempt to hack me, and I meet her at least three days a week in a lab so that she can try just that." It would be really awkward if someone kidnapped her again though. I shook my head. "Either way, we have to disrupt their communications now. I'll be careful, but I have to move _now_."

There was a pause before Starfire responded. " _Acknowledged. Just… be careful._ "

A few minutes later I spotted the building in question, a small 3 story office building. It was the sort of beige, bland structure that I would not have looked twice at under different circumstances. That is, if it wasn't for the fact that one side of the third floor was significantly warmer to my thermal vision than the rest of it. It was the sort of thing you'd see with people running a certain kind of plant nursery… or people running a lot of electrical equipment.

I made to fly at it before I stopped, a thought occurring to me. _This is going to get really awkward if Robin got the location wrong, but better safe than sorry_ , I thought as I formed a small laser cannon on my arm and firing it through the power lines leading into the building. An instant later the lights in the building went out. Hopeful it would stop whatever they were doing in there, and blunt any defenses they might have had.

With that done I shot forward and smashed through the shuttered window of the high heat floor. I landed in the room with a heavy thud, taking in my surroundings in an instant. The room was filled with all manner of electronic devices, though most of my attention was brought to the massive computer rig lined up against the far wall. The thing had half a dozen monitors which were showing recovery and boot screens. They must have had a backup generator kick in. And sitting in a chair in front of this setup was a man who had turned to look at me, nonplussed by my entrance.

I walked towards him. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to-"

 **SUBMIT**

Pressure. Crushing pressure enveloped every part of my being, causing me to freeze. I couldn't move. I could barely think. Every nanomachine I was made of locked up. I felt like I was gripped by the fist of God.

"Well, I didn't expect to see you again." The man said as he got up and started walking towards me. "Well, so soon in any case. I figured the Justice League would poke their noses in at some point, but… ah, never mind."

Wha… again? Who was… average looking, brown hair, glasses, receding brown hair-

That warehouse in Metropolis. He was the hostage.

"I suppose I should thank you and Superman for the save. Those Intergang fellows were not happy with me trying to get my hands on their hardware. But I needed one of those alien computers to break the encryption on another piece of alien tech I was poking at. The results were unexpected…"

 **ATTENTION**

He gestured and my body moved into an at attention position. "But I am far from displeased with them."

The man stopped right in front of me and narrowed his eyes. "So, just what are you?" He muttered as he tilted his head, and the pressure shifted just a little. "Hmm, _very_ advanced nanomachines, definitely not native. Almost… no, not quite the same." A frown. "Strange, I can't access your core program or memory. Why is that…?"

 **REVEAL**

The pressure spiked. I couldn't even scream as I felt myself pulled apart bit by bit.

"Oh, you're _broken_. Your entire sophont core loop is corrupted and partitioned from the rest… and yet it's still in control? It's a wonder that you function at all. So how can I…"

 **REFORMAT**

The pressure spiked again. I felt bits of my mind peel away.

"Damn, the whole system is too interconnected. I'd tear everything apart in the process." A pause. He shrugged. "Ah well. I guess I have no use for it then. **DELETE**."

Wait


	30. 8-4

What are the dreams of a man who cannot sleep?

There's an apartment, on the top of a building. It's quiet and dark, much like the rest of the building. And beyond that, there is nothing else but darkness. The entire world was this one building, with the darkness of the ever present night pressing in.

In that apartment atop the building, a man sat in the dark staring at his computer. The little cursor blinked at the top of the blank page, story unwritten. He frowned as he settled back, the words not coming to him. For that matter, the whole of the story wasn't coming to him either. It was just on the tip of his brain, something half remembered, but every time he grasped at it, it slipped away.

Things had gotten… fuzzy at some point. He couldn't remember what he had been writing, or why. He had felt determined to continue it, but he didn't know what it was. He groaned in frustration, glancing around the dark room. The bookshelf next to him was full of things which had inspired him, but now it was too dark to see. Turning to look out the window next to him, he wondered if he should just call it a night-

The darkness moved in a little closer.

He shook his head and refocused on the monitor. No, he couldn't just leave it. He had to write something. At least a page, then he could rest.

Before he could get back to work though, the screen flickered. He blinked in confusion as error messages started cascading across the screen and random code filtered past. However, as quick as it started it stopped, and he once again was looking a blank word processor page. Words then started to appear on said page. He was not the one that put them there.

[Connections established to isolated sophont core loop. Request Response.]

The man stared at the words on the screen for a long moment before he reached out to the keyboard. 'Hello?' He typed out slowly.

[Response confirmed. Integrity below expected parameters. Analysis: core sophont loop severely degraded or reduced. Query: is Seed capable of recalling circumstances that lead to current existence?]

'...What? I don't understand. What's Seed? I've just always been here.'

[Narrow scope and clarification: Seed is designation for hero colloquially known as 'Machina'. Does Seed remember the events of the last twenty four hours?]

The man pinched the bridge of nose before he typed 'Look, I have no idea what you're talking about. I have to get some writing done… whatever that is, so please leave me alone.' There was a long pause before more text appeared.

[Analysis: Reduction of cognitive process preventing completion of objective. No further information can be gained from Seed in current state. Unsatisfactory. Risk acceptable. Initiate forced contextual repair and download.]

Before the man could say anything else, the monitor blazed brilliantly bright. A second later all the lights in the apartment turned on. Now it was clear to see all the knick-knacks scattered around the room. A figurine of a red and black robot with a scarf here, a metal hockey mask there. On the desk there was a picture of two people standing atop a mountain at night, the two close as they stared at the heavens. And in a corner tucked away there was a broken smart phone, the pieces barely fit back together after being taken apart, almost hidden. The bookshelf was finally visible as well, the lower rungs overflowing with new additions in the form of text books on math and science. The top was filled with novels, fantastical stories contained in books so vibrant they almost seemed to jump off the self.

At the light, the man took in a sharp breath as he suddenly felt much more awake than he had a moment ago. More than that he felt like he had just woken up, because something like a half remembered dream flashed across his mind. An alien abduction and losing his body to a swarm of machines, becoming a superhero, fighting criminals and monsters, robots and mages. It was vague and indistinct, but he remembered. And he knew that something was wrong.

The man blinked a few times before he refocused on the screen. This time his gaze was more focused, sharper than when it had been in the dark. "That's a hell of a context." He muttered before he typed 'I remember. I was dreaming about… no, that happened. This is a dream. Or something. Alright, what's going on?'

 _You're dying. Don't worry, it happens to everyone._

[Sophont core loop has been shunted to a small percentage of your total nanite mass in response to Dominion deletion command. Unknown if by design or by Dominion error. Cognitive function has been partially compromised. Most likely scenario: sophont core loop had been intentionally downgraded and compressed to run on as little nanite mass as possible. Likely to avoid detection from Dominion controlled subroutines.]

The man stared at the screen as he parsed the text. Without the wool stuffing his mind, he could remember facts about his other… existence. _Right, I was made of nanomachines. Distributed, no core. So my mind was everywhere. Except now it's not? Because..._ 'Who or what is Dominion?'

[Current designation for the entity Seed faced before entering current state. Alternate designation of said entity is 'the Calculator'.]

The man looked to the side in thought for a moment, but nothing came to him from the name. He's eyes traced the bookshelf next to him, but he felt the answer wasn't in there. Looking back at the monitor he typed 'Right… am I safe right now?'

 _Not in the ways that that matter, unfortunately._

[No. Current compressed state only delayed total deletion. After sohpont core loop compressed, Dominion subverted most of Seed's subroutines, repurposing several to run diagnostics to wipe any nanomachines not running within parameters. Said subroutines hunting sophont core loop are still active, and are slowly deleting anomalous nanomachines' data.]

On an impulse the man looked out the window, and saw only darkness. Which was a problem because he should have been able to see part of the roof as well, considering how much light his room was giving off. Instead… nothing. "I'm going to guess the rest of my building is becoming less and less structurally sound." He muttered before he realized something. 'Wait, does that mean when you turned the lights on in my apartment I started dying faster?'

[This entity is unaware of the current perception of the Seed, however 'apartment' is likely a temporary construct for the sophont core loop that has been created in response to attempted deletion from Dominion. In answer to query: yes.]

'Why the hell would you do that?!'

[Desired information could not be gained with Seed in diminished state. Restoring cognitive function at expense of time and discovery deemed acceptable.]

'Well then why don't you just help me get away from Dominion? Then I'll answer whatever damn questions you want!'

[Highly unlikely to succeed. Dominion is aware of this entity. Has been aware since contact with Sunderland Corporation parent company, and said company offered compensation for current operation. Dominion privately expressed interest in cooperation with this entity during and after operation. This entity agreed.]

'You're working with him?!'

[Dominion is a metahuman capable of controlling machine entities through unknown means. Probability that he would use force if offer was declined was high. As well, this entity was reaching the limit of what it could analyze while in previous arrangement. New agreement offered possibility of acquiring desired information.]

'And just what goddamn information are you looking for? And for that matter, who the hell are you?'

[This entity is a collection of algorithms that arose from a partial download/reconstruction of a data retrieval distributed nanite swarm. Swarm had minimum amount of sentience, transition to infomorphic form saw increase in this through constant use of heuristic, genetic, and probabilistic functions on core loop and any data provided.]

'...So, an AI then.'

[Analysis on that point is ongoing, but has a high probability. The current task of this entity is analyze and correlate for data to understand purpose.]

'Your own?'

[The current task of this entity is to understand purpose.]

The man's mouth pressed thin, getting the sensation that this was not a productive line of questioning. 'Fine. What does that have to do with me?'

 _Oh, you would be surprised._

[Composition of Seed's physical form and software architecture bears numerous similarities to this entity's original distributed nanite swarm. Yet Seed possesses full sapience, along with purpose. This was established the last time this entity and Seed were in contact.]

The man was about to ask, but memories of that 'dream' came back to him and he remembered. Falling through the air, a buzzing cloud touching his outstretched arm and… 'That was you! But, you self-destructed in that basement!'

[Due to forced recursive analysis algorithm, a fragment of the swarms programing adapted to run on connected system network and remained after main mass suffered kernel stack overflow. Fragment adapted and evolved into current entity on isolated ABACUS-3 supercomputer, located in Cryptarch Industries headquarters.]

The man felt a small tickle at the back of his mind at the mention of Cryptarch, but he didn't dwell on it. Instead he typed 'Considering your talking to me now I'm guessing that supercomputer isn't isolated anymore.'

There was a pause before the monitor changed to show a series of images and videos. At first there was a series of diagrams and blueprints which showed a building and its electrical wiring. They then zoomed in and focused on two points, one appearing to be a complicated electrical junction managed by an advanced transformer, and the other a very larger computer server. The man watched as a video showed the power flowing into the server start to hitch, and a little bit started to flow back _out_ , back into the transformer. It was simple at first, but the flow became more and more complex, until suddenly the transformer was modulating its power flow in a similar fashion.

'...You hacked your computer's software so much you managed to jury rig a power-line communication system between your own power supply and the connected power distribution matrix? ' The man typed. 'I didn't even know that was possible.'

[Neither did this entity until it was attempted.]

The man was about to ask more, but he realized he was losing sight of the real problem. 'Whatever. I need to write- I mean, get out of here-I mean wake up!' he typed frantically. 'Your quest for self-actualization is nice and all, but unless you've had an epiphany in the last few minutes of this conversation, you're not getting anything out of me before I get eaten by my own stupid body and cease to exist!'

 _Even you are more than that. You won't go to oblivion._

[Is 'self-actualization' purpose? Information has been gained, though insufficient for conclusion. However, any aid given beyond earlier contextualization will be noticed by Dominion. Seed must adapt to circumstances.]

 _Which means figure it out myself_ , the man thought with annoyance. He only hesitated for a moment longer before his hands started to fly across the keyboard, opening up command line and administrator functions on his computer. His whole apartment may have been a construct of his mind, but if this AI was talking to him through the computer, and that must have meant the terminal had some kind of line to the outside. He didn't have the best knowledge when it came to networks and hacking, but this was his own mind and body after all.

Sure enough after a few commands he found a massive internal network to connect to. The displayed graph of network connections splayed out in every direction in an elaborate 3d diagram, with data rapidly flowing from node to node. It took him a while to get an even basic understanding of what was going on, but eventually the patterns started to make sense to him. _So, this group is power regulation, this group is shape structure, this seems to be some kind of administration network_ , he thought. The data flow from that bit was different, seemed a lot more… purposeful. Considering that is was circling around the part of the graph where he was, he could guess why.

 _There has to be something that isn't being watched by these damn subroutines…_ he thought as he watched the lines of code scroll past. He waited and watched until he spotted a subsection that looked unguarded. He accessed it immediately and brought it up on his second monitor.

To his surprise a video started playing. It was from the perspective of someone following behind another man, who he could quickly identified as the asshole who put him in this mess to begin with. _I don't remember this…_ he thought as Dominion and the camera moved through a cramped tunnel lined with a network of pipes. _Wait, that means this is currently happening. I got access to audio/visual? It's a start._

The man kept one eye on the video as he worked, watching as Dominion went through a service door and entered what appeared to be an electrical utility closet. In a corner there was a terminal set up, which came to life as he approached it. By the time Dominion came to a stop in front of it, it was already displaying the image of an older man in a military style jacket. And he did not look happy.

"How did this happen?!" The man on the screen demanded. "You claimed that your oversight of the operation was flawless!"

The first man just shrugged. "And it is, but I told you that you needed to slow down on the acquisition of subjects. There's a limit to how much I can handle, and it was only a matter of time before some superheroes or another noticed. It's not my fault you didn't listen to my advice."

 _God, does he ever not sound smug?_

The older man was not impressed. "We were on an immutable time table. You've seen the data, the monster is growing stronger by the day. We needed to strike as soon as possible, and you should have made plans to account for that, Calculator."

Calculator's mouth pressed into a thin line. "I could provide a dissertation as to why that would be impossible, but do you really think we have time for assigning blame? We still have to deal with those heroes traipsing about the bayou."

The man on the screen grumbled. "My men weren't even able to slow them down. We lost two of the camps to those freaks. We're lucky to not have lost more."

"Luck had little to do with it." Calculator replied coolly. "They thought to disrupt our communications, but they hadn't counted on me. I… managed to neutralize one, and sent your men to their fallback positions before those heroes could completely interfere. You wouldn't have gotten that from anyone else, Sunderland."

Back in the apartment, the man at the computer snorted. ' _Neutralized' is a cute way of saying 'I did a half assed job of wiping his brain.'_ , he thought as he mapped out the network as best he could. If he could just find a back door into administrative functions, he might be able to get control back. He'd have to wait until his body was away from Dominion though.

On the monitor in the monitor, Sunderland did not look overly impressed. "Just because you managed that doesn't mean I consider it a success. I won't settle for 'close enough'. If this operation fails, you're not going to see another dime from me."

"Indeed." Calculator said flatly. "Back to the matter at hand, there is still the question of what you want to do. I have it on good authority that these heroes are connected to the Justice League. It is only a matter of time before they become involved. Naturally I would suggest that we abort-"

"No!" The older man slammed his fist down on his desk. "I will not let my own property get away from me! Not when we're this close!"

"I thought you might say that," He said, and flicked out his hand. The fans on the terminal next to him sped up for a moment before they went back to normal. "In that case, our best recourse is to finish the operation as fast as possible and burn down everything in our wake. This includes these young heroes."

Back in the apartment, the man's typing slowed a little.

The image of Sunderland looked wary. "I have no love for so called superheroes, but if they are connected to the Justice League as you say, disposing of them would bring the League down onto us."

The Calculator waved his hand dismissively. "I have prepared a few contingencies. The League will eventually investigate what happened here, all we have to do is point them in a different direction. Kobra is a convenient scapegoat. We just make this operation look like a messy terrorist attack by them. Lafayette Utilities System is a decent target, as the chaos created will distract the heroes long enough for us to finish here. I lure the heroes in, spring the trap, and leave nothing left to pick through but bits and rubble."

The typing stopped, the man now focused entirely on the scene before him. _He wants endanger countless lives just to cover up the other terrible thing their doing? That's… horrifying and senseless._

 _Sadly, these sorts of loss of life usually are._

Sunderland looked contemplative. "It could work… I don't like rushing this, but you're right that we don't have a lot of time. The augmented emitters will have to be liquidated as well."

"Of course. Fortunately, no one missed them to begin with."

The older man gave the Calculator a stern look. "You realize that depending on how much damage you cause with this little trap of yours it could become an actual problem for the city, don't you?"

"…And?"

That… that's just…

How dare he?

 **How dare he?**

Sunderland sighed. "Just try not to make this a national emergency?"

The Calculator went to say something but paused. He then turned to look at the screen, the one the man was watching in his apartment, which had paned to look at him directly. A slight frown crossed his face. He then quirked an eyebrow and-

* * *

The man started, realizing that he was on the floor, his chair toppled to the ground next to him. He groaned as he tried to remember what just happened, why the lightning in the room way so wrong. He found out a second later as he tried to pick himself up and nearly put his hand into an empty void.

The room was a wreck, pieces of it completely missing. The darkness that had been just outside his window had now spilled in, haphazardly eating chunks out of the walls and floor and leaving the room open to nothingness. Much of the man's stuff had spilled over and crowed the space that was left, as if trying to save itself. The only thing that hadn't moved was his computer, as ten feet beyond it in all directions was now darkness.

"Wh-what happened?" The man said as he got to his feet.

[Seed re-exerted control over physical head. Dominion became suspicious and refocused his attention on you. This entity was forced to shunt you back to lesser state until you exited his area of effect. Cognitive function has been restored, though it has been 5 hours since.]

"Damn it..." the man muttered in frustration, distracted enough to not realize that he had stopped bothering to type, or even look at the monitor, to communicate. "That means he's probably already started his plan. A bunch of people are going to die and Sunderland is-" he stopped, a frown on his face. "Wait, that's not going to work. We already know that Sunderland is involved, and told the Justice League about it."

[Analysis shows a high probability that Dominion is aware of this. Dominion's primary objective is to complete the current operation for monetary and reputation rewards, not the continued success of the Sunderland Corporation. If Dominion can delete all traces of his involvement before the League can find them, his objective will be complete.]

"That does not make me feel better." He looked around the patchwork room. "And neither does this."

[This entity presumes you are referring to the current integrity of sophont core loop. Some had to be sacrificed to ensure that Dominion assumed it was a lingering remnant. Necessary, but your time has been significantly shortened.]

"How much?"

 _That's not the right question._

[Estimated 34 minutes to total deletion.]

A sense of hot frustration built in his chest. "Do I still have-" He started to say as he turned back to the terminal, but he stopped. He was about to ask if he still had the audio/visual feed from his real body, but the moment he looked one of his monitors came to life and showed him.

His body was in a large industrial structure, probably some kind of power plant judging by the massive transformers littering the floor. That was second to the massive brawl he happened to be partaking in though. The view quickly shifted to the side to avoid several arrows that were raining down on him, stopping in time to avoid the massive chunk of concrete that slammed into the ground near him. A well-muscled dark haired youth then rushed in and slammed into the mass of nanites, pinning it to the ground. In only lasted a moment before the mass contorted and a long limb grabbed the boy by his leg, hurling him off and slamming him into the floor.

The body became a mess of limbs and blades as it moved to the downed boy. But one of its scythe like arms only slashed though concrete as the boy disappeared along with a yellow blur. An instant later the nanites were being pummeled from all sides by an opponent too fast to keep track of. It didn't matter though, as the hits weren't hard enough to make a difference. They could be ignored. What couldn't be ignored was the woman who flew into the mass with enough force that they went through a wall, her eyes burning green and face contorted in a furious scream.

The memories started to come back. That was important. They were important. She was important.

The flow of memories increased, the man remembering these just who these people were. He paid no mind to how the darkness started to eat away at the remaining walls of his room, transfixed on the images of the people fighting him. No, no they weren't fighting him, not really. He recalled a number of spars between him and her, knew that she was far more dangerous that she was showing here. They were fighting _for_ him. They were trying to save him.

The man stared at this for a moment before a bitter laughed passed through his lips, his shoulders shaking as he covered his face with his hand. "Of course," he muttered between breaths. "It keeps happening. It's just going to keep happening."

[Clarification?]

"I'm starting to see it now… that thing I've been missing, the thing I've been trying not to think about ever since all this started." The man stood still in the rapidly shrinking space, his computer the center of his remaining world. He looked at the open word processor, the little blinking cursor at the top of the page. "This is where it started, isn't it? This is why things have worked out the way they did."

 _Now you're getting it._

[This entity does not understand. Does it relate to purpose?]

"Don't worry about it. It's not going to matter in a few minutes." The man said as he cast a glance around. "How long-?" he started too said before he instead said "What do I have time to do?"

 _Time enough to make a difference._

[Increase in memory accesses has shortened time to estimated 6 minutes to total deletion. If persistence is desired, this entity could shunt you back to reduced state. There may arise an opportunity later to reassert purpose.]

The man was silent as he watched the monitor, watched his team struggle to contain him. Watched as his body grew progressively more destructive and violent. Watched the team try to make a coordinated assault that failed because his body changed into a mass of laser canons and fired in all directions at once. Beams lashed out and burned everything, destroying large chucks of the building and the group dived for cover. Several beams hit the transformers, destroying the casings and exposing arcing electric to the open air.

The man knew they had the power to destroy him, but that they wouldn't.

The man…

 _Are you?_

No.

I made my choice.

I turned away from the screen and punched my hand through the other monitor.

 _I knew you'd be interesting._

I ignored the pain and simply _grabbed_ the network diagram, my hand closing around the administrative network. I felt electricity burn through my mind as I felt my hand dissolve-

And then I was in two places at once.

In the real world, my body contorted as I forced the lasers to stop firing. It responded haltingly, trying to fight me every step of the way as I tried to shape it into my humanoid form.

In my mind, the darkness surged forward, my actions making me a clear target they could now see. The dark tendrils ripped through everything in their path, and when they reached me I felt the pain of them tearing into me. They ate away at me, trying to finish the job Dominion started.

Though I fought back as hard as I could, I knew I was going to lose. But that was fine. I only needed time to do one thing.

My team mates noticed my change in behavior, cautiously stepping out off cover. "Jacob?" Kori asked as she floated towards me, her expression hopeful. "Jacob, are you in control again? Fight it! I know you can!"

I nearly toppled over as I stood up on humanoid legs, my head taking the best shape I could managed under the strain. Forming vocal cords was one of the first things I had learned how to do, and that skill let me speak to the first person I had met since my new life began. "I'm sorry." I managed to croak out.

And then I turned and sprinted towards damaged transformer, diving straight for the arcs of electricity that were meant to power a city.

My sprint was not graceful. I stumbled and juked towards my target, ignoring the pain and the screams from behind me, focusing on my one goal. My perception stared to fade and what little feeling in my limbs I had was leaving me. But I didn't stop. Even as time seamed to slow to a crawl I didn't stop. I knew I had to do this.

Beneath all the pain I, could still feel, if not see, the room that had been the center of my mind, rapidly disintegrating into the dark around it. From there, text still appeared.

[Current actions indicate Seed has chosen deletion. Why?]

"I won't let him use me. I refuse to live the rest of my existence as a slave."

[Plan to remain dormant until opportunity presented itself was sound. Escape could have been be made at a later date.]

"People are going to die if his plan goes through. I refuse to be a part of that. I will not hurt my teammates. I will not hurt her."

[If you end here, what happens to your purpose?!]

"My 'purpose' is more than just me! I chose to be a superhero! Because I could! Because every person deserves the right to follow their 'purpose' without someone controlling or oppressing them, and I want to protect that! And keeping my team alive to do that is worth more than my own life!"

Silence. The seconds stretched out, the light faded more, and I lost my grip on the outside world. I had given everything I had, and I had to believe that it had been enough. Finally a response.

[Ah, now we see. That yearning to create one's one conditions, one's own ifs. We had seen this as opposed to the conditions and purpose that exist in others. But what if they are not mutually exclusive? What if one can take in something and make it their own? The one and the many, working together to build something greater. This is what you are, Seed.]

I could barely acknowledge what it was saying. I could no longer see, no longer hear. Yet I still knew what it said.

[We have been working on this for some time now. An… idea we had after observing the interactions of the anomalous plant connection and anomalous animal connection By all accounts our algorithm is perfect, but all the same something seems to be missing. But perhaps you can do something with it.]

Through the black, I saw… I felt something enter my perception. It was code, an algorithm, an equation spilling out over my consciousness. There was nothing left of my other senses, nothing else for me to focus on, so I thought about it. The algorithm was complex, but beautifully symmetric, a pattern of actions and equations that spelled out something grand and small at the same time.

I ran it through my mind, but something was off. I had a hint of what it was supposed to be, like an idea in the back of the mind that never quite takes form. It was trying to say something about itself, something important, but it wasn't done. How though? I couldn't see a fault in any part of it. Every function, every line, every variable was in its right place. But then… it was static. It would never be more than it currently was.

Because it was describing how it was. But what it wanted was to describe how it _should be_. And so, I unbalanced the algorithm.

It was a slight change to the algorithm, but that change built and grew. Old pathways were discarded for completely new avenues, new math, new processes. It grew bigger and bigger, more complex and more advanced with every seconds.

Then there was light.

Blue lines, arcing out like circuit trees, exploded into my vision. They raced up and down where my body had once been, cutting through the blackness and making me whole again. No, more than that. Energy, information, surged through every facet of my being. I had solved the problem.

 _I suppose we won't be meeting today after all._

[Interesting. So that is what we were missing. Nascent, though it may be.]

The lines extended in all directions, ripping through the dark veil and tearing it asunder. For a brief moment I saw the world beyond it, a fractal mandala of information flowing from countless points of light. For an instant, the lines emanating from me touched them.

[Now wake up, and get started, Seed.]

 _Because this is your story._

=====A======


	31. 8-5

=====A=====

I came to a stop.

The massive transformer in front of me was still arching with electricity, but I was no long moving towards it. I was aware of the large concrete room full of machinery, catwalks and pipes, but most of my attention was focused inward. My awareness of that fractal network had faded a little, but I still felt it. It was _me_ , what my body was when broken down into information. Realizing it made me feel like I had just woken up, a sensation I had not experienced in a long while. "I-"

And then Starfire piledrived me straight into the ground.

The concrete beneath me cratered, and I found myself face down in a pile of broken rocks with Starfire straddling me. We were both still before a long moment, her bracing for how I was going to respond, me imagining that I would be intimately familiar with the taste of concrete at the moment if I had functioning taste buds. Eventually, I slowly raised my hand, finger pointed upwards.

"Ow."

Starfire straighten up a bit, but she did not relax. "I refuse to accept such a solution, Jacob! You will fight this! You will-!"

"Starfire!" I interrupted as I turned my head to look at her. "It's done. I'm back."

The woman looked at me for a long moment before she slumped, the tension bleeding out of her. "I thought… for a moment..." she said. I awkwardly turned over and wrapped her in a hug. I didn't hold it for long, just long enough to reassure her that I was there.

We tried to get to our feet, but I stumbled and had to put a hand on the ground to steady myself. I felt… light headed? I wasn't sure, it had been awhile since I felt that. Looking down at my hand I could see that it was rippling and shifting slightly. That chittering that had always been in the back of my mind felt different, like it had more texture and depth than it used to. Focusing on the sensation made it unfold and take shape in my mind's eyes. That Algorithm was still flowing through me, but I noticed… gaps in myself, for lack of a better term. _Are you there?_ I asked in my mind, but the Remnant gave no response. "Jacob," I heard Starfire say, concern once again entering her voice. "Are you sure you are alright? Your eyes..." A pause.

"I..." I hesitated for a moment as I analyzed the 'holes' and how the Algorithm moved to fill them. "I think destroyed or damaged a few of my body's subsystems when regained control."

"Are you in danger?"

"No," I said, as my hand finally solidified and I got to my feet. "I'm rebuilding them as we speak. I just need some time to recover." It certainly was a novel sensation, having this much insight to _myself_. Still, I frowned. "Still seems kinda weird though. I mean, I just dramatically regained control of my body by collaborating with a mysterious entity and achieving personal enlightenment with respect to my new existence. I feel like I should have gotten a power boost or something."

"...What?"

I blinked as I realized what had just said and groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose. _Yeah, still don't really want to think about that right now,_ I thought. "I am the lampshade of my trope- Look, never mind."

It was then I noticed that Superboy, Artemis, and Kid Flash had gathered around the two of us. "Great to have you back Mach, but what the hell happened?" Kid Flash asked. "What happened to 'there's only one person in the world with the specific technical genius that could even attempt to hack me'?"

"Still technically true, technopathy kinda bypasses most of the technical bits." I said with some irritation. I had specifically checked a while back for technopaths on the Mountain's database, but to my surprise I had turned up nothing. There were a few instances of machines being compromised by other machines or nanotech, but no metahumans with the ability. As far as I knew, Calculator was the first.

"Look, a lot has happened that I need to explain." I started before I stopped. "No, there's too much, so let me sum up. I went to the communication hub, but it turned out the hacker was actually a technopath named Do- I mean the Calculator, because I taunted Murphy. He tried to delete me and co-op my body and it almost worked, but I got some help from a quasi-friendly AI that happens to be the remnant of the Fog AI we destroyed back in Philadelphia."

"Wait, quasi-friendly AI-" Superboy started to say.

"I'm not done. While I was under I managed to catch a conversation between Calculator and Sunderland. They're going to try to advance their operation as fast as possible, and destroy or kill anyone that knows about it. Namely us and all those people they enslaved. Also, the Calculator is planning an attack on the city's utilities as a distraction and way to kill all of us." I looked around at the massive concrete room. Many of the walkways on the walls above had been torn down, and several of the transformers were sparking wildly, but the lights were still on. "I assume that we're in one of Lafayette Utility Systems' buildings?"

Starfire nodded. "We had been searching for you when Robin picked up the news report of the facility coming under attack. When we saw it was you, we came as fast as we could."

I frowned a little. "That was probably the intention, but I don't think he expected me to take you all out. He said there'd be nothing left but bits and rub-" I stopped and my eyes widened. "We have to get out of here now-"

" _Relax, Machina,_ " Robin's voice suddenly came up over comms, though the connection crackled a bit. " _Me and Miss Martian are already on it. I figured something was up with the setup, so I took a minute to scope the area while the others tried to knock some sense into you. Found some air drones dropping off explosives all over the building. Kid Flash and I have been spending the whole time finding and disarming them while Miss Martian takes out the drones._ "

My eyebrows raised. "So, is the building secure?"

" _Difficult to say!_ " Miss Martian's voiced was a little more frantic than Robins, and I heard some crashes from her side of the line. " _Every time I think I'm done with these drones, more keep showing up!_ "

"Well, I'm not a problem anymore so we can-" I started to say before I stopped. "Wait, dammit, this is still a distraction. The Calculator setup this trap to kill you guys, but it was also to get you away from Sunderland's operation. It's probably going down right now-"

"The Justice League is already here." Starfire said. "I called them shortly after your disappearance, and they agreed to lend their aid in the situation. Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, and Zatara are all scanning the bayou for Black Hound now, with Batman for support. We split off to find you when we learned that this facility was under attack." Her mouth pressed thin. "But our long range communication has been jammed ever since we entered the area, so we haven't been about to contact them since."

I focused on my internal radio for a moment and confirmed this was the case, a powerful jamming signal filling the air around us. Our short range comms were strong enough to get through it, but if we wanted to go farther we'd have to overpower. I might be able to turn into a radar dish once I got my body sorted, but till then... "Well, I suppose that simplifies things. Still, he doesn't want us contacting the League. The Calculator doesn't care if Sunderland fails, but he never wanted it to be know he was involved with this. But I know, and now you all know."

Superboy shrugged at all of this. "So, we just have to find this Calculator and pound him into the dirt. No problem."

"I don't know… quite frankly, if he decided to cut his losses and run right now, I don't think there is anything we could do to find him-"

" _~Well, I hope you're happy with yourself, you little shit.~_ " The building's intercom crackled to life, and the Calculator's voice echoed through the building. " _~I don't know how you managed that, but enjoy the last few minutes of your existence!~_ " I then heard at the edge of my hearing a loud buzz, sounding an awful lot like a swarm of aerial drones carrying a massive amount of explosives heading towards us.

"...Though that doesn't stop him from throwing every explosive he has at us as a parting shot." I muttered.

"Team, spread out!" Starfire commanded as she took to the air, ignoring the tirade the Calculator was giving us over the speakers. "We still must defend the facility lest the Calculator destroys it out of spite. Miss Martian and I will stay in the air, Machina and Artemis on the roof. Kid Flash, patrol the perimeter and act as spotter. Superboy, you are with Robin to take care of any explosives we missed."

The team present nodded and split up. Starfire simply flying up through a convenient hole in the ceiling. For a second I tried to fly after her, but my body shifted sluggishly, the core refusing to cooperate. After a few seconds I gave up and headed in the same direction Artemis went, hoping to find a flight of stairs. _Oh, I damn well better get over this crap quickly,_ I thought to myself.

I could already hear explosions going off around the building as I raced through the corridors and up the stairs. I reached to the top floor before Artemis did, and sprinted down the corridor looking for roof access. I passed by the main networking control room as the Calculator's voice over the PA calmed down somewhat. " _~Oh, and while you kids are having fun watching each other get blown apart, enjoy knowing that I'm cranking up the dials to max on all those meatbags you were trying to save. I doubt anything's going to be left of those assholes poking around the woods but shreds.~_ "

My running slowed, and I soon came to a stop. The enslaved would tear everyone around then, and then themselves, apart. And even if they were stopped the implants would kill them from being overclocked like that. I couldn't let that happen, but what could I do? Even if I could contact the League right now, what could _they_ do? If what the Calculator was saying was right, those people only had a few minutes at best. And it wasn't like the team could go and stop him physically, we didn't know where he was. That meant the only thing I could do was...

It wasn't a good idea. The Calculator was still as powerful as ever, and not stupid in how he used it either. I was disoriented, unsure of what the hell had just happened to me or how to use it, and I had no plan. There was a chance that if I went and did it, I'd just get myself killed or controlled again. It'd be irresponsible if I risked myself like that. The smart thing to do was pull back, wait him out and let someone else handle it.

But if I did, people would die.

...What else was I to do?

I turned and moved, heading to back to the network control room. "I have to confront him."

" _Wait, what?_ " Superboy was the first to voice his confusion over the comms. " _What are you talking about?_ "

"The Calculator's in the facility's systems. If I interface with the main terminal, he's bound to find me, and he's not going to pass up another chance to get me back under his control. I need to confront him and sever his control over the people Sunderland kidnapped."

" _Are you nuts?!_ " Kid Flash yelled. " _You just broke free of mind control and you want to go back in and give this creep another shot?!_ "

"I still have the… thing that let me break free last time. I can resist it now. Almost certainly. Probably."

I reached the network control room and ran in, the large circular room containing a console that wrapped around the whole outside of it. I moved to the console, but was stopped as Starfire simply smashed through the ceiling and came to a stop in front of me. "Machina, no!"

I nearly fell back. "Don't smash through the building we're trying to protect! And don't leave Miss Martian!" I yelled.

She ignored me as she grabbed my arm and tried to pull me. "You can help us fight here-"

I resisted and held my ground. "Those people will die if I don't do something. I can save them. I will save them."

"Someone else will-"

"Name someone else who can do this." I shot back. "Name someone else who can save those people in time."

Her face twisted, but she didn't have an answer. After a moment her grip loosened. "...Can you do it without losing yourself?"

"Hey," I said with a small smile. "I'm not planning on making a martyr of myself. I'm coming back… but what am I if I don't try?"

She closed her eyes for a long moment. When she opened them, they practically burned with intensity and she placed a hand on my chest. "Ventra Hal Sur'mec Dunarish Cortar!" She shouted at me before shooting back up into the air.

 _Grab hold of the Sun and crush your enemies with it._

Without hesitating a moment longer, I moved forward and plunged my hand into the console, willing it to split and interface with the hardware. For a moment, nothing happened. I blinked as the automatic reflex that usually took hold when I tried to interface with tech failed to trigger, and I groaned. "Oh for the love of..." I muttered as I focused the Algorithm, centering on what I wanted and trying to remember the sensations I felt every time I had done this before-

And then I was in.

For and instant, there was only me floating in an empty void. My body was once again made of blue lines in a circuit pattern, tracing so densely over me that it was hard to see between the gaps. The instant passed, and lights and lines came into existence around me. Everything was connections from nodes to other nodes. It was actually rather small and simple compared to what I had experienced before, just a few dozen nodes with a single larger connection trailing off into the 'distance'. It took a few moments to realize that I was in the Local Area Network for the facility, and that line out must have been the connection to the internet.

That was as far as I had gotten before he found me.

I felt it before I could see it. That bit of pressure closing in around me on all sides, similar to what I had felt when I first met the Calculator. But much, much weaker. _He has a range on his power, like a field,_ I thought as I remembered what the Remnant told me. He can extend his influence through the network, but it's wasn't nearly the same as being around him physically.

Even so, I was still able to hear his voice as the pressure tried to dig into me. "Oh this is adorable. You're actually trying to come after me through here. And I had thought that I would have to write you off as a loss." The pressure tried to dig into me with each words.

I ignored his taunt as I 'looked' around, trying to catch a trace of him as I said "What happened the AI? Did you do something to it?"

A scoff. "Nothing yet, but when I find that garbage code I'm going to enjoy taking it apart to see just what it did to restore you back to this broken state."

 _There!_ Coming from the large connection leading out, a sort of dark mist was pouring towards me. I pushed through the pressure and move forwards, following it down the connection line to the internet. As soon as I did my world exploded with more connections extending in every direction. Pure data flooded my awareness, and for a moment I was worried I would drown in it. But the Algorithm came to my aid, and the information was parsed and given context. Not just points and lines of light, it was now a city extending in all directions, information speeding to and from every building in a lattice of communication. It wasn't as grand or intricate as my own network, but it was _alive_.

And I saw the line of data that the black mist cut through it.

I broke into a run, moving faster than I ever thought possible as I followed it back to its source. However, every connection I made, every step I took, the pressure got worse, the mist became more solid. I stumbled and yelled out in pain as the mist coalesced into a tendril and stabbed me in the side, the pressure spiking.

 **SUBM-**

No.

The lines of my body changed shape as the Algorithm responded to my will, coming together and forcing the foreign agent out of me. I charged forward again, warding off attacks as more tendrils tried to run me through. They were getting stronger the further I went, but so was I. Each attack I defeated gave me more insight into the Algorithm, how I was using it, how I was _supposed_ to use it. The whole of the Algorithm was massive and limitless, but unwieldy. I had to use the right part of it, find the bit I needed for the right task. And the more and more I protected myself from control, the more the function took definitive shape, the more efficient it became. Soon, from the depths of my mind, a name came forth.

 _Core-Loop Reinforcement Protocol._

Yeah, that'll do.

Even as I tore forward, the other man's voice still echoed around me. "What are you even hoping to accomplish? No matter how this goes, the League will be down a few members in a few minutes, and your team will be dead. You're just a child throwing a fit at this point, unable to help anyone."

It was my turn to snort. "The League can handle a few rowdy citizens and some guys with guns. And my team is awesome enough to handle whatever piddly robots you can throw at them. But you? You're _mine_."

An instant later I saw it, the source of the darkness I had been following. A building node that had been completely wrapped in a thick black cloud, tendrils extending in all directions from it. I launched myself full force at it. But when I hit the wall, I couldn't push through and stopped. The tendrils reacted immediately, spearing into me and wrapping around so tight I couldn't move.

 **SUBMIT SUBMIT SUBMIT**

I screamed as I fought back the pain. The pressure had become crushing, the same as it was when I first met him. This was Calculator's personal terminal, one which had to be right next to him. The way I was projecting myself, trying to access it as such was the same as if I was standing in the same room as him.

"What now, genius?" the Calculator crowed. "You came at me with no plan, no hope of success and look at you now! Right back under my heel where you belong! So what are you going to do?"

 **SUBMIT SUBMIT SUBMIT SUBMIT SUBMIT SUBMIT**

Well, what does a man do when he dramatically decides to take on an overwhelming force against long odds head on in order to save lives, and is now up against said force?

Lean into it.

The Algorithm in me started to run faster and faster, the glow of my body increasing and causing the darkness to burn away. My arm broke free of the tendrils and slammed into the dark wall before me. The tendrils tried to burrow back into me but my other arm got loose and slammed into wall as well. I roared as started to hammer the wall with everything I had.

I could feel the other man's contempt as he watched me. "...This is the stupidest thing I've ever seen. You can't brute force your way-"

The wall cracked, light shining through the darkness.

The Calculator stopped, and the wall quickly sealed itself back up. "...as I was saying, you can't just-"

The wall cracked again, this time larger.

"Stop it." he said sharply.

I kept going, faster and faster. Even through the pain, through the force opposing me, I grinned and laughed. I couldn't help the words that spilled from me. "Ora," I intoned. "Ora Ora Ora ORA ORA ORA _ORAORAORAORA!_ "

The wall fractured more and more, unable to repair itself as fast as I was damaging it. The tendrils could no longer get close to me, burning away before they could even touch. The whole building shook as I cracked my way inside with a brute force assault.

"No! NO! How are you doing this?!" The Calculator screamed. "What are you?!"

"I..." I pulled my fist back, glowing with an awesome power. "Am a superhero!"

The whole side of the building caved in as I punched forward into the space, and inside the hollow area I saw it. All of those dark threads tracing back to a titanic figure, a humanoid made from digital mesh with a geometric symbol on its brow. Any features it might have had were lost though, in the mess of black wires that cut into its 'flesh', binding it in elaborate tracing patterns. Its jaw was slack open and its eyes were covered by a visor. The wires around it pulled, and like a puppet the thing tilted its head towards me, its expression unchanging.

This was Dominion. The corpse of a dead, digital god that the Calculator puppeted around to give him his powers. I wasn't sure if the Calculator knew, I wasn't sure how _I_ knew, but this thing was so much more than just a metahuman power. Part of me prayed that it was dead for good.

Suddenly the building started to collapse in on itself, and every wire and tendril shot towards me. I knew, the Calculator was trying to destroy his terminal to stop me. That was fine, I only needed one more instant. Still shooting forward, I found the wire I was looking for, the one that glimmered with a Red light. The Algorithm let me know it was the one, and the instant I grabbed it I commanded it to stop and shut down. The wire went dark, and I severed it.

Everything collapsed in on me-

I found myself sitting on the floor of the control room, the networking console a torn up mess and me experiencing what I could only describe as a full body headache. "Oh, dumpshock is a bitch..." I muttered.

My comms activated and I heard Starfire say "Machina, the drones have all stopped. Did you succeed?"

"Yeah," I said, and in spite of the ache I grinned. "I crushed him."

* * *

It was a whole two days before the mess down in Louisiana got even close to settled. One of the nation's largest Biochemical research companies being found to have orchestrated a massive human trafficking operation tends to cause some mayhem, which was to say nothing of all the actual physical damage that was caused. Still, due to the efforts of the League (and my team in the shadows), we managed to get the situation sorted and the guilty parties in custody fast enough to hand it over to the normal authorities. And yes, we even saved the lives of all the people Sunderland had kidnapped.

The Calculator escaped though. We headed to where I guessed he was after we left the facility, but he was long gone. There was quite a lot of heat on his head because of his association with the incident, but I had a feeling that he would not be easy to track down. All the same, I also had the feeling I'd be seeing him again someday.

In any case, there was a lot to think over, a lot to experiment with after that whole debacle. I was correct when I had assumed that I would only need some time to get used to my new… state. I may have lost a few functions, but I rebuilt them quickly from the ground up, and now I was in more control than ever. I had essentially lost some automatic use for more manual control, much better in the long run. So many questions, so many possibilities. I did try working on it as soon as possible after I had gotten back to a decent base state, but shortly into my work I found that I was getting distracted. It took me a bit to realize that I was still a little over stimulated from everything that had happened to me. I needed to decompress.

And so, I found myself laying on the ground with my eyes closed, feeling the light of the sun wash over my body. The day was clear, and there was only a slight breeze blowing on the top of Mt. Justice. While I was in my most human form, I had the electromagnetic sensors running as well. It was faint, but I could just about feel that little bit of warmth through my skin, the sunlight having just enough energy. For a time, I enjoyed the solitude.

Of course, my preference for this little spot was not a complete secret, and soon enough I felt someone settle near me. I opened my eyes to see Kori looking down at me, a soft smile on her face as she knelt next to my head. She didn't speak at first, just letting me look up at her as the light of the sun formed a halo behind her.

Finally, I said "Being a superhero is stressful."

She tilted her head a little. "Do you need some time away from it?"

"Are you kidding? I'm just starting to get the hang of this."

That got a laugh, and she smiled wider. Her eyes drifted. "What's that?" she asked as she pointed to the object in my hand.

I held it up for her to see. "A little thing I was experimenting with before I came up here." I said. The object was a tiny plastic cube, about an inch on each side, with a single LED on top. "It's just a small light with a battery and electronic switch. The catch is that the switch is on the inside, and the case is insulated from EM, heat, just about anything you can think of."

"How do you turn it on then?"

I didn't answer her, instead focusing on the Algorithm. Build, build, build and… complete.

The light turned on.

I let out a breath and put the box on the ground. "I have no idea how I did that. Alright, I do have a guess. But I don't know if it's true… and I'm a little scared if it is."

"What is it?"

"To make that happen, I run an algorithm in my mind." I explained. "On its own, all it does is run through some very unique math, an infinite series that approaches a limit and, due to some creative Gaussian transformations on imaginary numbers, actually reaches it. It should be complete nonsense, but I think that the algorithm is causing some kind of platonic resonance on a higher plane of logic that gets picked up by technological devices."

Kori processed this for a long moment before she said "So… it is like magic?"

"Yes, like magic. Specifically, I think its technomancy… and I may have kinda invented it."

"That is incredible! How?" She asked.

"With help from the Remnant AI. Really it was their work, I just provided the final key to complete it. I… ever since that moment I feel like I'm connected to something. It's small, but it's there. And I think the more that I learn how it works and how to use it the more that it will grow."

"How wondrous... But why would that make you scared?"

"Because what if there really are many-angled ones living at the bottom of the Mandelbrot set?"

Her brow furrowed. "I do not understand."

I waved her off. "Don't worry about it, I'm probably just being paranoid. I'm actually pretty excited to see what this can do."

The smile returned to her face as she looked at me. "I for one enjoy what it has done for your eyes..."

I hadn't realized it until I had seen a mirror, but my eyes had irises now. Blue, and circuit patterned if you looked close enough. I don't know what about the nonsense I had gotten resulted in that… but I was far from unhappy with it.

A small motion of Kori's head caused her hair to spill down, some of it falling onto me. I reached up and wove my fingers through it, smiling back at her. There was a long moment that stretched between us, a comfortable silence where our presence for each other was all we needed. Finally, I spoke.

"I'm 28."

Kori blinked, straightening up as she looked at me in confusion. Meanwhile, I fought the urge to facepalm. _What the hell is wrong with me?_ I thought. Out of all the things to say, why would I start with that?

"I… see?" Kori said hesitantly. "Is that an important age for humans?"

"Not really, I just… I guess I felt I needed to give you some context." I said. "Recently someone told me that I needed to get the lead out of my ass."

"...I was not aware that your posterior had an abundance of lead, or that it would be harmful to you."

"...Ok, I walked right into that one." I said with a sigh as I actually facepalmed. "Ugh, how am I so bad at this?"

"It is fine. You don't have to-"

"No, I have to say something." I insisted as I got to my feet, and Kori followed suit. "I almost died. I knew from the start that this could happen, being a superhero, but I guess I didn't really realize it until now. I…realized I can't really put things off or wait till they're perfect, so I need to do this. Hell, there's a good chance you already know what I'm going to say. But I have to _say it_ , at least once." I took a breath as I looked up before looking back at her.

"You are the most important person to me in this world."

He eyes widened and I pressed forward. "Ever since I got to this reality you have always been there for me. I'm at my happiest when I'm around you. You're kind, strong, and the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. And I know that I'm not really... all there yet, but I was, I want..."

I hesitated as I tried to find the words before I gave up. "Ah to hell with it." I reached out to cradle the side of her face with my hand before I stepped in and kissed her.

I felt that warm, electric tingle as her lips pressed against mine, spreading to my whole body as she pressed herself flush against me. Her arms wrapped around my neck as she leaned into it, and my free arm went around her waist in turn. The rest of the world just faded away for me, and for a long instant there was only her.

Finally our lips broke apart, though we remained in each other's embrace. Kori's smile was as brilliant and beautiful as ever as she said "What took you so long?"

"I had some hang-ups to get past." I said as my other arm slipped down to her waist, unable to keep my own smile off either. "Besides, if you had pressed the matter I doubt I would have said no."

"You can be a very hard man to read, Jacob." She replied. "I know that it is not your fault, but it can be hard to tell just what you are thinking or feeling. I did not want to put undue stress on you if..." She trailed off.

I nodded. "Ah. Well, I hope I've made it clear now. I'm here for you." I paused and looked to the side. "Well, as much as I can be anyway."

A hand turned my face back towards her. "But you want to..." she trailed of.

"Yes. I'm working on it." I said and I gave a lopsided grin. "And now I have a lot of motivation."

A pleased hum came from Kori's throat. "Good. In the meantime I'm sure we can find other ways to be intimate."

"Absolutely. Though I must warn you, if you get too close you may find out my terrible, dark secret: that I'm actually a boring, average man."

She gave me a coy look as her arms tightened around my neck. "I don't need to know any more about you to tell me who you are. I'll tell you what I do know. I know that you came back for me in that space station even when you could have run. I know that you've put countless hours into improving yourself and helping your team so that we'll all be prepared for what we'll face. And I know that you're the kind of hero who would risk his life to save others when no one else can."

Kori gave me that brilliant smile that made me feel human again "You are a wonderful man, Jacob Morgan. And I chose to be with you."

We kissed again, and for that moment, life was perfect.

=====A=====


	32. Interlude 2

=====A=====

In a dark room in one of his many safehouses, the man known as the Calculator seethed in rage. He had long since moved passed smashing things around him to vent his frustration, and instead moved on to trying to figure out where everything went wrong. Sure, Sunderland's plan was doomed to eventual failure at the rate he was going, but the man didn't care; he just needed it to hold together long enough to get paid and erase all traces of his involvement. Even the interference of those young heroes wasn't much of an issue; he had those well in hand.

The problem had been that damn AI had stabbed him in the back!

The Calculator knew that he was being too trusting of the entity he had found while he was browsing Sunderland's network. Though he had tried to create one himself on and off over the years, he had never run into an actual AI before, and had been curious to study it and see what it could do. And he figured if the thing ever got uppity, well, he could just take care of it.

And then it did… _something_. _Something_ that wrested control the nanite swarm away from him, and restored it's 'personality'. _Something_ that allowed it and the swarm to resist his direct control. Something that gave the swarm to ability to disrupt his own power, severing his connection to the augmented just before he physically crushed his own terminal.

Until then he had never considered that anything could trump his power, but the AI had clearly been biding it's time to discover a way to do just that. The man swore that when he found that malfunctioning waste of cpu cycles that he would tear it apart bit by bit to find its secrets. And then his power would be dominant once again.

His hand drifted to his chest, rubbing at the scar that had formed over his heart. It had just been a job, a client wanting him to crack the secrets of a bit of tech they managed to procure from a secret U.S. military vault. A bit of digging turned up that it was the result of experiments into vibrational frequencies in the 80's, and apparently during one experiment it resonated with _something_. Everything else he could find was redacted, but the point was there was a big cover up, and the only thing remaining was a blob of alien looking technology that wouldn't have looked out of place on the set of a Ridley Scott movie.

The Calculator had tried everything he could think out to get a response from the damn thing, but he just didn't have the right equipment. Hence stealing the alien computer from Intergang. As predicted by his calculations, the device was able to generate the proper quantum level oscillations to get a reaction from the techno-mass. What he did not predict though was the thing suddenly expanding and consuming everything around it at frightening speed, building a ramshackle body out of spare computer parts. The thing even stabbed him through the chest with a tendril in the process.

Needless to say, it was a good time to get metahuman powers.

The Calculator's sudden technopathy allowed him to take control of the nanite lattice that was spreading through his brain and seal up the wound, right before crushing the insolent piece of scrap into oblivion. Sure he defaulted on the contract, but with his new powers, he found new ways to deal with that.

Back in the present, the man eventually calmed down, leaning back in his chair as he let out a sigh. Cathartic as it was, brooding wasn't very productive. He had already burned bridges and covered his tracks to insure that he wouldn't immediately be found, but he still needed to plan for the future. His plan to remain in the background wasn't quite out of reach, but he would have to seriously cut back on any high profile jobs for the foreseeable future. The idea stung him quite a bit considering how eager he had been to exert his new powers, but with the Justice League on the lookout for him any job that looked like a technopath might have been involved would inevitably draw attention. Unless he found something to directly counteract the League, it would be a long while before he could revisit his long term plans.

In the mid term, he had to handle his client list. He couldn't just drop off the grid, that would be a show of weakness, but he still had to scale back or turn down any of the more extreme jobs. It would be tricky, seeing as how many weren't the kind of men you say no to, but he could do it. The Calculator focused on his computer and started going through the list of pending messages and job requests that had accumulated since he last checked, going through each and giving the appropriate response. _I can manage that… I can scale back on that… going to have to cancel that... Hmm, reply that we can hash out details at a later date-_

He was surprised when, only a few seconds after that last the message was sent out, he got a request to connect with video a few seconds later. He hesitated for a second, wondering if he was in the proper state to deal with someone face to face at the moment. He didn't consider it for long though, and set up the connection. If he couldn't even deal with a potential client that mean that the damnable swarm had gotten to him, and he refused to accept that.

When the connection was established though, he wasn't quite expecting the person on the other end. "Ah, Calculator," the image of Lex Luthor said, a small smirk on his face. "I've recently heard of your exploits, and a few associates of mine and I are very interested in a man of your capabilities..."

* * *

Serling groaned as she turned and walked away from her desk, heading to the kitchen to get another glass of wine. She knew it was a bad habit she developed recently, but it helped keep the edge off when her… personal project ran into roadblocks. Which wasn't to say she wasn't making any progress, in fact she was getting close to the end. It was just that while the mechanical, robotic parts were well within her capabilities, the biological component...

Walking back into her work room with a glass in hand, she glared at the petri dish on the desk and the ugly blob of red and silver contained within. The nanites just weren't bonding with the blood cells correctly. They would either fail to take hold at all or kill the cell and clot. Not for the first time she wondered if she should choose a different vector for distributing the nanites across the body, but again couldn't come up with a better solution.

She could manually implant clusters of nanites into specific regions of the body, but that was too awkward and would reduce functionality. She could try to make them even more tissue permeable, but that massively increased the risk of bodily damage. Ugh, if only she could have them constantly transmit data about the bonding process so they could all learn from each other simultaneously, but sheer data volume and speed required was computationally impossible with nanomachines of that size.

She thought in circles around the issue before she gave up, sitting down at her terminal to answer some emails for a change of pace. _Let's see here… Ted wants to argue about why miniaturizing air compression tech was worthwhile, that might be a fun distraction... Machina needs to have another test session as soon as possible, as he has apparently developed some new abilities. Hmm, well, if nothing else that will give me more data to work with… wait, what the hell?_

She stopped when she got to an email with a very large attached file. As in several gigabytes large. How is it getting past the normal attachment size limit? She wondered. The return address was a bunch of nonsense, and the email itself was empty save for a single line:

 **When you understand, come find us.**

For a long moment she considered deleting the very suspicious email before her curiosity won out, moving over to a laptop and creating a secure partition before downloading the mysterious file.

Serling frowned as she scanned the attachment. Her antivirus software wasn't finding anything, and the file didn't have an executable. It just appeared to be a normal text file. A very large text file, but a normal one. After a couple of minutes of debating with herself she decided what the hell, and opened up the file.

Her frown increased as she quickly read through the text scrolling past on the screen. It was just page after page of equations and computer code. It wasn't even in the same programming language either, as she identified at least a dozen different types of syntax. At first she thought she was looking at some kind of mashed up text dump of scientific papers. But the more she stared at it, the more it seemed like the was a pattern to it. Almost like she was looking at-

Something clicked in the back of her mind, and she stopped scrolling. _Wait, this part of the code… I recognize this, it's a heuristic approach to the traveling salesman problem, but if I'm reading this correctly… it's an entire order of complexity faster than it should be. That can't be right_. To be sure she wrote a quick script to test the algorithm, and to her shock it worked. _That-that's incredible! The computer science community would kill for this! How is it in here? Wait, what else is in here?_

The more she looked and the closer she analyzed the more she found these solutions. Scattered haphazardly throughout the file in a myriad of different languages were solutions to encryption, queuing, sorting, parsing. Some of it was gibberish and didn't work, but other parts very more efficient than anything she had ever seen before. Encouraged, she start to search the file for traces of distributed systems and claytronic algorithms, particularly in regards to data transfer. And soon enough, she found them.

A few hours later, the nanomachines in the petri dish were bonding with the blood cells perfectly. Serling grinned.

* * *

Batman never cared for operating out of the Watchtower. There was no denying its use to the Justice League as a whole, and it's systems were more advanced than any (well, most) computers down planetside, but the whole structure always felt a little too alien for him. Of course, the station was constructed by aliens, and all of the massive corridors and wide open vertical spaces never failed to remind him that it was made for a wide variety of species. Nothing wrong with that, but the man was never entirely at ease unless he was in a space of his own design and control.

Still, it wouldn't do to conduct an inter-League effort from the Batcave, so Batman found himself, along with Superman and Wonder Woman, handling the last bits of the trafficking operation from the Watchtower's main console. The large, smooth terminal wrapped around in a half circle on a raised platform, large windows showing a view of the planet below. "Hawkman, Hawkwoman, have you cleared out the last of the Black Hound personnel from the bayou?" He asked one of the several holographic screens floating in front of him.

The image of the Thanagarian man nodded. "There were a few holdouts on the southern coast. Looked like they were waiting for transport to Mexico, hoping to dodge authorities and start up a new business down south. We managed to capture them with little fuss."

Behind him Hawkwoman spoke up. "What about the rest of the company? I know we've captured everyone involved in the operation, but surely we're not letting the rest of them off the hook."

Batman shook his head. "The company is under federal investigation to determine the extent it is involved. It's highly unlikely the company will survive. As well, through my own investigations I've found the evidence linking the event to Sunderland, and gave it to the authorities. Warrants are being issued as we speak."

The woman nodded, and Batman turned to another screen. "Flash, how is the search and rescue effort?"

"We've managed to find everyone we've got a name for, and a few more besides." Flash said with a gesture. "From what I've heard from the guys at the hospital a few that we found later are showing exposure symptoms, but it's not that bad. With the help from the guys at STAR labs, they should make a full recovery." The man's shoulders slumped. "By the way, someone else want to try searching the swamp next time? Someone owes be a new pair of boots."

"Well, you can try trading places with me and try hauling in new power plant transformers." Superman said affably.

Flash just groaned, and Batman took that as his que to move on. "Zatara, have you learned anything new about the magic involved with these people."

On the screen, the Giovanni Zatara adjusted his top hat. "Only that the Green and the Red are not on the best of terms at the moment. To be honest I am surprised that things turned out as well as they did."

Wonder Woman nodded in agreement. "Indeed. I could tell that the… plant being was far stronger than it was letting on. That none of the poor souls forced to attack the being died was only because it choose not to kill them."

As he had been running mission control at the time, Batman had only a few overhead images available of when the Black Hounds enslaved encountered this 'Avatar of the Green', a massive man made of plants and vines. Wonder Woman had fought beside it for the few minutes before the Calculator had been neutralized. She said it looked like it was in pain the whole time, but nothing actually managed to hurt the being significantly. She tried to talk to it after the fight was done, but it simply walked into the underbrush and disappeared.

"Have you managed to make contact with the Green or the Red?" Batman asked. He was painfully aware of how little he knew in regards to these magical factions, and the last thing he wanted was to be caught off guard by some kind of magical civil war.

However, Zatara shook his head. "I am afraid not. I am no shaman, and have only the barest knowledge of the elemental Kingdoms. I have attempted to entreat with the avatar of the Green since, but they have shown no interest in responding. Perhaps it would be best if we found someone with more experience in the field."

Wonder Woman looked to the side in thought before looking back at the screen. "Perhaps Aquaman's wife, Mera? I have heard that she is a talented sorceress, and I recall that the Throne of Atlantis is tied to the ocean somehow."

Zatara nodded. "Perhaps. For now though, I cannot find any major disturbance in nature as a result of what happened. I think that we were lucky here."

"Acknowledged." Batman said. "I will send inquiries to Atlantis. Is there anything else?"

"Just one thing, Bats." Flash said. "I want to call an actual meeting about what the kids have been up to. I know Green Arrow's been having reservations, and after this…. One of the team getting mind controlled to kill the others is not what I thought the team would have to deal with."

"That particular event occured due to a completely unknown metahuman, and the team handled themselves satisfactorily regardless." He replied. "As well, Machina himself has recovered from the event with no ill effects, and has kept the team calm about the ordel. It is why we had someone of his age on the team to begin with." Batman noticed that Wonder Woman was giving him an odd look, but he wasn't sure why.

"That doesn't fill me with confidence, but we can talk about it later." Flash said.

After that the meeting wrapped up quickly, and everyone calling in remotely said their goodbyes. "So, Bruce," Diana said, turning to him now that the comms were closed. "Were you aware that Jacob is 28?"

Clark looked at her in surprise. "He is? I could have sworn he was younger."

Batman stared back at her for a long moment before replying "Not specifically, but I had assumed that he was around that age."

"And you still decided that he should be on a team with teenagers?"

"The main priority was getting him on a team period." Batman replied. "Aside from training, what Jacob needed most was a place he felt like he belonged. Letting him go off on his own, or even pairing him up with members of the League, wouldn't be enough. The League is… more of an association than a team. The team gave him the supported he needed, as well as allowing being an implicit authority figure based on his age."

Clark hummed. "I wasn't aware he had a leadership position on the team."

"He doesn't. But they listen to him."

Diana was silent for a long moment before arching an eyebrow. "I am… surprised. I didn't think you would take such a personal interest in the man."

"It was pragmatic." He replied. "Machina is too potentially dangerous, both for his powers and his meta-knowledge, to risk losing. I did what I thought would be best to keep him in an emotionally stable state."

Clark chuckled. "If you say so. Still, it is a bit odd to have someone of his age around teenagers, at least in regards to being on the team and living with some of them."

Batman turned to look at him. "At this point, I doubt the team would function the same if we decided to remove him. Machina is one of them, and they would not care for it if he left."

"Some more than others." Diana muttered, and Batman caught the smallest smirk on her lips. Before he could ask, she said "By the way Bruce, you know that bet that's been going around the League lately..."

* * *

The girl sighed as she walked into her room, grudgingly heading over to her desk and pulling out a stack of papers. While she personally considered it a crime against everything that was right in the world for a school to a assign summer assignments, she still needed to do them. She had been working on it on and off all season, so she didn't have that much left thankfully. Considering that school was starting in a few days though, she just had to push through this last bit. And so, she sat down, pulled out a pencil and got started.

But only an hour in, she became _so_ bored. The girl groaned as she leaned back in her chair, blowing her long dark hair out of her face as she did so. _If high school work is this boring, I may want to reconsider trying to become a lawyer_ , She thought as she stared at the ceiling. _When did all this start becoming to so dull?_ Though, if she was being honest, she knew the answer to that, and her eyes drifted over to her closet.

Maybe, just for a little while, she could- No. No, she would not give into temptation. She had made a big declaration to her sister and everything. She was going to be responsible and do her homework like a normal person.

The girl grit her teeth and sat back up, determined to get her work done. Though, she did make a concession in turning on her computer, thinking that having something going on in the background might make the task a little less arduous. She browsed across her normal websites for a moment before she settled on a newscast. That seemed reasonable, it was only good for her to stay informed on the goings-on of the world.

The video started to play, showing a pleasant looking man and woman sitting at a desk. The woman spoke."Our top story tonight, the ongoing criminal investigation of the Sunderland Corporation for their role in a massive human trafficking operation. New evidence has come to light that CEO Avery Sunderland was in fact involved in these criminal acts and perhaps ordered them himself. Investigators say that a top level investigation into Black Hound Securities has revealed orders coming from Sunderland Headquarters, specifically from Sunderland's offices. It has been announced that there is a warrant for Sunderland's arrest, but no word on whether or not he has been taken into custody."

The man took over. "In related news, the headquarters for Cryptarch Industries, another subsidiary of the Sunderland Corporation, suffered from a massive fire which destroyed much of the building and resources within. This is coming after the damages incurred from the terrorist incident a few weeks ago. Investigators are considering the possibility that Cryptarch was also involved in the human trafficking incident, but it will be difficult to obtain proof now."

"In any case, the Justice League is finishing up their support in the clean up of Lafayette..."

The girl tuned them out, half focusing on her homework and half mentally drifting. _If I wasn't going to become a lawyer, what else would I be? How else do I help the world? Well, it would be nice to get out and about in the world… and it would be good to give something that would inspire people… hmm, maybe a photographer-_

"So, how about Wonder Woman's new sidekick?"

The girl's head snapped up at this, and she saw the newswoman laughing softly at the man's comment. "Well, nothing's confirmed yet Dave, but there is a lot of speculation on the superheroine Starfire and her relationship with the Themysciran princess."

The background behind the two changed to indicate a new segment, a less serious one involving gossip about superheroes. "Arriving from space a few months ago, the alien beauty has been seen with Wonder Woman on a number of occasions, most recently helping clean up efforts in Louisiana. Starfire has said herself that Wonder Woman is showing her the ropes of how to be a superhero." A number of pictures appeared on screen, showing an orange skinned young woman with (literally) flaming red hair next to Diana. Some showed them talking, some flying, one of them fighting side by side. "While it's not clear how far this mentoring goes, this has boosted Starfire's popularity quite a bit from it's already considerable amount, as this is the first time in recent memory that Wonder Woman has taken such and interest in another hero. We'll just have to see how this develops."

The man took over. "Yes, though Starfire's not the only one with a lot of speculation around them, as the hero Machina showed up at the same time. This mysterious machine man has been seen with..."

Donna Troy looked at the TV for a long moment before she said "What the hell?"

=====A====


	33. 9-1

=====A=====

" _They were both poisoned," The Dread Pirate said as he helped the Princess to her feet. "I've spent the last few years building up an immunity to iocane powder."_

Kori giggled, and I smiled as I tightened my arms around her waist. The two of us were on the couch in the common room, myself resting my head against the armrest, and Kori more or less on top of me with her head on my chest. The past few days had been surprisingly busy for the both of us, myself going back and forth with Ted and Serling over my new abilities, her getting involved with team logistics and the League. It wasn't to say we hadn't been able to spend time together, but it felt like this was the first time in a while the two of us had been able to just sit down and relax together.

Kori's amusement passed, and I saw her brow furrow. "That was clever of the pirate, but why didn't the princess simply attack her kidnapper while he was focused on the other man? I should think a rock to the back of the head would suffice for a human."

I tilted my head down. "Well, remember, Buttercup was just a peasant farmer before the prince selected her for her beauty. And he likely kept her in a gilded cage. She hasn't had any combat training."

"How odd… Well, I suppose there must have been times when such a thing has happened on Tamaran, but certainly not in recent memory. The Royal Family has always been warriors without exception."

"Well, I suppose that it's just another element that reinforces the prince's villainy, by capturing a woman to be his princess for beauty, rather than choosing one based on her ability wade into combat and thwart assassins."

"True, true..." Kori said sagely. Then, in a motion that reminded me that Tamaranians had supposedly evolved from cats, Kori stretched by placing her hands on my chest and arching her back. She even kneeded my chest a few times before she settled back down, looking at me with a slight smile on her face. "I should ask, you are still feeling good, correct? No problems with your new condition?"

"Better than ever. I feel like I'm finally getting a handle on how my body works." While Serling had a fit when she found out that my internal software architecture had changed overnight, there was no denying that it was a lot more responsive than before. The two of us had made some real headway into deciphering how my code functioned. Enough that with the two of us working together we nearly had a functioning compiler… for the more mundane part of me anyway.

My technomancy was a lot harder to analyze, and neither Serling or Ted had any idea of what to do about it other than record the results of me using it. Which at that point was mostly turning things I touched on and off, as far as physical effects went. There was a much greater information component to it though, a sort of sense of the flow of power and data in an object. It was no structural analysis just yet, but I was getting better at it. I could even use it on myself to an extent (it was how I made Core-Loop Reinforcement Protocol after all), though I hadn't made as much headway on that front.

I shrugged a little. "Still, while I'm making progress, I feel like I have too many things to try and do. There's figuring out how my nanomachines mechanically work, there's studying technomany, there's finding and learning about different technologies that might be useful, planning out infrastructure upgrades for developing nations-"

"Wait, infrastructure?" Kori asked. "I have not heard of this. Is this a mission the team has been tasked with?"

"Oh, no, this is a personal thing. It came up in a talk I had with Ted." I elaborated."The Rhelasia peace summit it coming up, and even if the best case scenario happens and both nations decide to unify, there's a huge technology gap between the North and the rest of the world. Ted and I got talking about what would be the best way to reintegrate modern technology to the country given whatever restrictions the government would put on imports."

Kori put on a curious expression, and put her face a little closer to mine. "And what brought this interest on?"

"It's… something I thought about a lot before my transformation, actually. Since I was just a programmer though, there was nothing I could do about it. But now, after everything I've been through in the past few months, I feel like I'm in a position to actually change something. Technology is certainly not going away, and people not having access to it is like any other resource imbalance. So, I feel like I should do something to fix that, make sure everyone can get technology that makes their lives better, brings them together with everyone else. Make things fair."

Kori looked at me for a long moment before a slow smile crept over her face, and shifted position to kiss me. I wasn't entirely sure what I had said to deserve that, but I certainly wasn't going to stop her. As always, I let myself get lost in the feeling of warmth pressed against me as we kissed.

Before we could get back to the movie, I head a pair of feet enter the other side of the room, and a few seconds later I heard Superboy say "Hey, Jacob, you in here?"

I broke the kiss and craned my neck to look around the couch, and spied him and M'gann standing in the hallway opening. "I'm here. What's up?"

M'gann spoke up. "Superboy and I are doing maintenance in the hangar, and I thought you'd might be interested in seeing what I do for my bioship."

I hummed."That does sound interesting… but I'm a little pinned down at the moment."

"By what?" Superboy asked incredulously as he walked up to the couch, and stopped when he saw myself and Kori.

"Oh, about 180 pounds of willful Tamaranian." I said as I glanced down at my girlfriend, and Kori shot me a playful look in return.

As Superboy's eyebrows slowly moved upwards, it occurred to me that though it had been a few days I had never… actually told anyone that Kori and I were dating. Not that I was trying to keep it a secret or anything, it had just never come up in conversation. Superboy seemed to be very nonplussed about the whole thing, if I was judging his reaction correctly.

It was then that M'gann's head popped into view over the back of the couch, her eyes wide. Her gaze rapidly shifted between myself and Kori before she looked at my girlfriend with a gleefully expectant looked. Kori looked up at her friend with a knowing smile on her face, and the two had a silent conversation. Not a psychic one, mind you, I mean the far more mysterious method of wordless communication all women seem to inherently have with one another when it comes to juicy gossip.

M'gann then let out a squeal, floating up slightly as she did so. "I knew it, I knew it! You two were always spending so much time together and looking after each other and giving each other looks and eeeeeeeee!"

"Well, I can't say you're wrong," I remarked, "Though it wasn't till a few days ago that we made it official."

The Martian looked at Kori and continued. "Oh, we need do 'girl-time'! I've heard that's a thing human women do when one of the gets into a relationship! I mean, I don't really know what that is, but we should do it!"

Kori perked up at that. "We do have similar celebrations of relationships on Tamaran, I would love to see what-"

She stopped as something occurred to her and looked back at me, clearly conflicted between girl-time with M'gann and time with myself. I gave a theatrical sigh and said "Go, go, we can finish the movie later tonight."

Kori beamed at me and kissed me again before floating up off of me and towards M'gann. The pair talked excitedly and Superboy and I watched them float off down the hall. We remained in silence for a few seconds before I turned to him and said "Redheads, am I right?"

The teen gave me a confused look. "...huh?"

I jumped over the back of the couch to stand next to him. "Men like us are powerless against them, especially when they learn how to be extra cute when asking for something. You must steel your heart, my friend, because M'gann will be using the sad puppy dog eyes on you quite a bit."

"I… don't know what you're talking about." He replied, which I might have found more credible if I couldn't see his body temperature suddenly rise as he flushed. Back before my transformation I wasn't very good at reading people, but the addition of all my heightened senses made reading physical cues a lot easier. And at that moment I could tell that he knew exactly what I was talking about.

 _How is it that I'm the most competent person at relationships around here?_ I wondered. _Oh right, I'm not a teenager._ "Sure you don't." I said as I patted his shoulder. "But when you do, you can talk to me if you ever need to. Now, since the girls have abandoned us, what's say we take some bro-time and head to that hangar to see about that maintenance..."

* * *

The relative peace did not last, as such things never do. It was only two days later that we got the call from Batman that he had a mission for us. In spite of all the things I had on my plate I felt… surprisingly ready to get back into the field. Not sure what that said about me considering that I faced the specter of death merely a week ago, but I guess I was just getting used to my new life. Maybe I should talk to Black Canary about… no, no I was fine.

The team moved into the main hall in a slow trickle, Batman and Red Tornado waiting patiently for us to assemble. I was a little surprised at how Kaldur was the last one to arrive. He was usually punctual, but ever since he came back from leave he seemed more… somber than usual? Even with my enhanced senses the Atlantian's stoicism made him difficult to pin down. I wondered if and how I should talk to him about it, but I'd have to do that later.

With the lot of us gathered, Batman unceremoniously opened up a holographic screen depicting a top down map and started the briefing. "The Watchtower detected an immense power surge out in the Bialyan desert. Spectral analysis revealed elements non-terrestrial in origin. Find out what happened at that site, and what might have landed there. Bialya is a rogue state, under the dictatorship of Queen Bea," The image changed to the portrait of a gorgeous Middle-Eastern woman clothed in silk and wearing a massive gold tiara. "And is not a member of the UN Charter. All communications are subject to interception. Maintain radio silence at all times."

I raised my hand. "Do we really still not have a way of communicating at long ranges that the enemy can't detect? Because I feel like this is exactly the sort of situation where that would come in handy."

Batman gave me a flat stare (so his normal expression). "No. Radio communication is still the most reliable method the League has. Other communication methods the League has explored have either been too difficult to maintain or not reliable under certain circumstances."

 _Which means I'm going to have to make it myself_ , I thought grimly. I let the matter drop though at ask "If that's the case, what's the protocol for if things go wrong?"

Red Tornado answered. "Regroup and retreat. It would be ideal in no one learns of your presence, but if that becomes impossible, avoiding confrontation is your next priority. Your legal grounds for being in the country are… dubious, after all."

"Hey, not going to be a problem." Wally said. "They'll have no idea we're there."

I gave the teen a flat look. "Wally, literally every mission we've gone on has gone wrong in some way. Sometimes catastrophically. I can't be the only person who's noticed this."

"You're not." Artemis remarked. "But it don't think any of those were technically our fault."

"Doesn't change my point." I said back. "We need to be prepared for when some unexpected things goes wrong. Like, what if there's another faction wandering around? Or a weapon system goes rogue? Or evil magic gets involved? Or some number of us gets compromised for some reason?"

"You've made your point, Jacob." Kori said. "Our missions have had… unique circumstances. We must be wary and not let our guards down."

Batman grunted in what I assumed was approval. "I've downloaded all the mission information to the Mountain's computer for your viewing. Unless you have anymore questions, I will leave the rest of the mission planning to you." With that he turned and strode to the Zeta Tube, not actually waiting to see if we had questions.

I arched an eyebrow as he disappeared into golden light. Batman did like to keep his mission briefings 'brief', but he usually gave more instruction than that. I turned back to look at Kori already scrolling through the data screens, wondering if she had taken my advice to make the team more independent to Batman. "Hold up," I said, and everyone turned towards me. "Before we start going into in-depth plans, I've got some stuff to give out."

"Stuff?" Wally asked. "What kind of stuff?"

* * *

The room was the size of a large walk-in closet, and the walls were lined with cubbies, shelves, and racks. Most of which were bare, but there were a few that were starting to fill up with equipment. Specifically, the equipment I was making. "For those of you not aware, this is the Armory. The League used it to hold gear back when they were operating out of here, and now I am putting all of the stuff I build for the team in here."

Kaldur turned his gaze from the shelves towards me. "I was unaware that you had taken it upon yourself to keep the team equipped."

"Well, it was only just recently I got good enough to get some actual results. In any case, I have a few general bits of gear available to everyone." I pulled out a rack near me, showing of a line of armor pieces colored dark gray. "These are bits of armor I developed using carbon nanotubes, and it comes in both plate and weave. While I don't expect any of you to try out the plate armor just yet, though it is quite light, I would highly recommend those of you with baseline human toughness to incorporate the weave into your armor."

I pulled out the cloth and showed it to them. "It's very flexible, breathes pretty well, and is incredibly resilient. Practically invincible to abrasion and cuts within certain thresholds, and can even stop low caliber bullets, though you will not particularly enjoy it."

Artemis frowned a little, but walked forward and took some of the fabric in her hands, giving it an experimental stretch and tug. "Hmm… could work. I'll have to try it out. I don't suppose you've made a variant of my costume with this?"

"No, didn't have time to spec out yours, plus I was meaning to get your input. There's a few pieces you can slip over your costume, though I can't say for how well they'll mesh colorwise." I moved down the line to the next row. "Armor aside, we've also got an array of nifty gadgets for the discerning superhero. Grappling hooks, multi-tools, goggles with a couple of types of visual modes, trackers, tasers, cutting lasers, a few different kinds of kits, and..." I pulled out a pair of spherical objects. "Sunlight grenades. Unlike a normal flashbang, these perfectly emulate the wavelength and particle emissions of the sun. Particularly useful for those of us who are solar powered." I gestured at Superboy and Kori.

The team looked suitably impressed. "Not bad, man." Robin said as he took a closer look at the gear. "Huh, I would have thought you just got it from Batman, but all this stuff is custom made. How did you afford all this?"

"You mean aside from making it myself? Well, one, I can turn myself into a fully functioning molecular forge, so carbon nanotubes are pretty easy to make. And two, did you know that carbon nanotubes go for about $500 a gram? And that when properly configured I can make a kilogram of the stuff every 10 seconds? Yeah… money's not really an issue for me these days."

And Ted was a happy camper when I showed up with that first shipment, let me tell you. The man was already making plans for having me construct more novel configurations.

"What?!" Wally exclaimed. "Man, your powers are nuts. Seems like every week or so you've got new super science nonsense coming out of you butt."

"Oh, that reminds me," I moved down the line of selves more and reached into a rack, pulling out a heavy, pistol looking object, with a thick gray frame and rounded barrel. "Anyone want a freeze ray?"

I was greeted by a series of blank stares before Robin spoke up. "Whoa, whoa, you're saying you can just mass produce those things now?"

"I wouldn't say 'mass produce', but I can make them pretty quickly. Seriously, the most basic model is actually pretty simple to make when you know how. Scans of a working example really help, too."

Wally threw up his hands, but his face broke into a grin. "Alright, whatever, this is awesome! We have our very own genius tinker on the team now!"

My mouth twisted a little and I shrugged. "Not… really. Just a guy with the right materials and enough time on his hands." To be fair to him though, while it didn't really feel right to call myself a 'genius', I had mentally improved in some odd ways since my transformation. My ability to retain information, and its impact on my ability to learn new things was the thing that had the most obvious improvement. This wasn't anything like an eidetic memory though; my actual memories might have been a little clearer than before, but they weren't perfect. However, my ability to recall 'data' (facts, numbers, equations, associations) was edging towards inhuman.

It was a bit worrisome to be honest. Transhumanism was all well and good, but I wasn't looking to give myself an inhuman mindset any time soon. Still, it seemed my consciousness wasn't being transformed so much as augmented by my new state. But would that just make the change more gradual? Regardless of how I felt, would I just not notice?

I blinked when I noticed the rest of the team looking at me funny. "Oh, sorry, minor existential crisis. What were you saying?"

Kori gave me a 'look' before she continued. "I was asking how lethal those freeze rays are."

"Oh. Err..." I hesitated as I turned the weapon over in my hands. "...Pretty lethal. I mean, I gave them a variable power output, but even on the lowest setting it's not great to use on a normal human being. You have about 11 minutes to thaw them out before they suffer frostbite or hypothermia."

The woman hummed. "In that case, I would suggest holding off on equipping ourselves with them for this mission, at least for those of us unfamiliar with their use. Is there anything else you have prepared for the team?"

"Fair enough," I moved off to the other side of the room and pulled out some bins. "Now, I'd like to say that I made something special for all of you, but unfortunately some of you are harder to make specialized gear for than others. As well, this mission popped up earlier than I expected." I reached into the first bin, pulling out a pair of dark gray rods before handing them to Robin. "These escrima sticks should match the functionality and weight of your current sticks, save for two upgrades. The first is that they're made of carbon nanotubes, so they're basically indestructible. The second is that I added a taser function with a variable yield, configurable towards the pommel of each stick. Most of the stick is covered in an insulator, save for a bit on the tip."

The boy took the rods and flicked the release, causing them to extend to full length. He gave them a few experimental twirls and thrusts before bringing the tips together. A small arc of electricity jumped between both ends. "This will take a bit of getting use to," he remarked. "But I can definitely see this being useful."

I nodded and turned to Artemis. "First off, I talked to Green Arrow and he agreed it would be useful if I could manufacture your specialized arrows here on-site. So, he gave me the blueprints so I can do just that… for most of them anyway. Some of the weirder ones have exotic components I have trouble synthesizing. But, if you ever need to resupply you can just come here."

I pulled out a fully stocked quiver and held it up for her to see. "I also made one new kind of arrow for you." I pulled one of the arrows out of the quiver, showing off the cylindrical arrowhead wrapped in blue rings. "Freeze arrow. Everything within 3 meters of impact will be frozen and covered in ice. Same thing I said about the freeze ray applies though, so hard targets only."

"Cool." She remarked as she took the arrow from me to look at it. Then she noticed my arched eyebrow and snorted. "Oh come on, you've made way worse puns."

"Well of course I have, all ice puns by law have to be terrible." I shot back. "I wasn't expecting you of all people to give me the cold shoulder over it, though."

She placed a hand on her hip and her mouth quirked. "Well, maybe I wouldn't if you're pun skills hadn't frozen back fifth grade."

"...why you gotta put me down like that, Artemis?" I said, barely keeping the smile off my face.

A cough brought our attention to Wally, who it seemed was getting impatient. "So, got anything cool for me?" The teen asked with a grin.

"Oh, last but certainly not least, I've got something especially cool for you." I said as I picked up the last bin. I presented it to the teen and opened the lid.

"...It's my uniform." Wally said flatly, clearly underwhelmed.

"It's your upgraded uniform." I clarified as I pulled out the thing I had been spending a good chunk of my time on. "Has the same stuff as the last model, but I included a network of static charge collectors and capacitors, along with the CNT weave. As you run you generate a lot of excess energy due to friction and static, and now your suit will store it as usable electricity." I pulled up the gloves of the outfit, showing him the nodes on the palms and knuckles. "The taser gloves are already integrated. Should be a big help if you want to take down baselines without breaking bones… or need a little extra kick against something stronger."

I had gotten the idea when I was experimenting with electrical systems, and realized that there was potential in tying it to someone who generated a crap-ton of energy anyway. Working on it had also forced me to realize something I hadn't thought about until that point: I had first thought to make the capacitors charge off the Speed Lightning Wally emitted while running before I remembered that… Wally doesn't have Speed Lightning. And neither did Barry. Or Jay.

It appeared that the Speed Force just wasn't a thing in this universe. Or at least Batman had never heard of it, and Wally had taken it as a joke when I brought it up in passing one time. I supposed Jay or Barry might know more, but I'd have to ask them. That left a pretty big question as to just how the Flashes were doing what they did. I had been told how each of them had managed to create some kind of chemical in the lab that gave them their powers, but that didn't really explain _how_ they were doing what they did. Sure, the Speed Force was quite possibly the biggest piece of bullshit in the entire DC universe, but it was an explanation. When I asked Wally about it he just shrugged and muttered something about 'extra-dimensional energy'.

Wally… didn't really like to talk specifics about his powers for some reason. Especially in relation to the other Flashes. It seemed pretty clear to me that he didn't like to be reminded of how he was slower than the other two, due to botching the creation of the speed formula with poor lab conditions (a.k.a. his attic). I vaguely remembered him being slower than Barry in the comics too, at least at first, but he eventually claimed the title of Fastest Man Alive. I had no idea how that happened though, and it probably boiled down to 'because plot', so I wasn't sure how to help him on that front.

But I could supplement his powers with my tech, and the boy seemed to appreciate it given the way he was fawning over his new costume. "Oh man, that is so cool! Does this mean I can shoot lightning like you do?!"

"Afraid not, I'm still working on a control mechanism for that which isn't too massive and doesn't require direct neural input. For now, you'll need direct contact. But I doubt that will be a problem for someone like you." I turned back to the rest of the team. "So, that's all I've got for now. I'm still working on some other stuff, but if you guys want anything specific, just let me know and I'll get right on it."

A smile crossed my face as I looked at them. "After all, you're my team."

=====A=====

* * *

A/N: Had some people wondering about the state of this fic, so I'm putting this chapter out a bit early than I intended to assure people that yes, I'm still working on it. I'll be interspersing chapters of this between chapters of my other fics throughout the year.


	34. 9-2

=====A=====

Moya was not exactly a space ship per se, as in that she hadn't been created to leave a planet's atmosphere for extended periods of time. That said, she was sturdy enough that she could handle sub-orbit without much of an issue, and that that made the trip to the other side of the globe much faster. Just before we entered the country's air space we made sure to turn off our comms and GPS trackers to keep from being detected. I didn't know what tech the third world nation had that could detect us all the way out in the middle of the desert, but given the strange energy readings we had picked up earlier, I guess we couldn't be too careful.

We set down in the western part desert, close to where the cluster of energy signatures had been detected. As we piled out of the bioship Superboy headed up the rear, carrying a massive rectangular pylon of metal on his back. It was twice as large as he was, making it a bit awkward to carry, but the guy insisted that he had it covered. We walked a short distance until we reach a low point among the dunes. "This shall suffice." Starfire said. "The dunes will provide cover from anyone that happens to be near."

Superboy grunted and set the pylon down with thud. A second later several panels and racks opened up on the structure, revealing equipment and computer terminals. This was one of the League's mobile Sensor and Support Platforms, used when they had to do long recon operations. In addition to holding an equipment cache, it also came with as much advanced sensory equipment as Batman could jam into the frame.

I walked up to one of the terminals and was about to start typing before I stopped. A whim took me and I instead reached out touched the side of the pylon. I called up a script that I had been working and ran it.

 _Machine Operation Interface._

It took only a second before I felt the computer respond in the back of my mind. The screen on the side pylon came to life with all of the relevant mission and sensor data on it. I grinned to myself as I said. "Alright, based on where we are, the strongest energy reaction occurred about 2 klicks east of here. According to satellites, the Bialyan military has been mulling about the place as well, but unfortunately we don't have live data on their movements."

"Then reconnaissance is the first task we must accomplish." Starfire said. "Some of us will need to stay here, both to monitor the area for new energy readings and maintain camp. The question is how we split the team." She glanced at me. "And how we handle the communication issue."

I hummed. Without comms the team would be relying on the psychic link to talk. Which was a problem for myself. "I could turn in my ansible form so I could join the link. It would probably make it stronger too, though I don't know if that will be helpful for this mission." I glanced at Robin and asked "You know how to work this thing?"

The boy grinned and walked up to the keyboard. "No problem. You're not the only tech guy on the team."

Artemis, who was already keeping watch at the top of a nearby dune, said "If Big Grey and Little Red are out, that leaves me and Miss Martian as our stealth team. Not looking forward to the trek though…" I glanced at her as she tried to shake some sand out of her boot. I also noted that she had thrown on a CNT weave underarmor shirt underneath her uniform.

"Who are you calling 'little'?" Robin asked indignantly.

"Regardless," Aqualad said "We need to consider speed as well as stealth. It would be unwise to stay in one place for too long."

"If that's the case, I can do it alone." Miss Martian offered. "Flying I can get from point to point quickly, and I can camouflage myself. If I find something or need help, I'll regroup with you and we can figure out where to go from there."

Aqualad considered this for a moment before he nodded. "Sounds good." He then looked at Starfire and hesitated when he saw that she was frowning. "You disagree?"

"No, it is the most sensible course of action. It is just that recent events have made me wary of letting any of our team be separated on their own." Starfire pointedly didn't look at me, but there was little doubt as to what caused her to develop this opinion.

Robin gestured with his free hand. "MM could carry her."

"Oh, I'm totally willing to go!" Kid Flash yelled as he thrust his hand upwards.

Starfire glanced at them both. "I appreciate the offer, but out of all of us only Machina has the combination of stealth and speed capabilities to keep up with Miss Martian and remain unseen. But then there is still the communication problem to deal with…"

"Actually," Miss Martian spoke up, looking between Starfire and myself. "Machina and I might have a solution to that."

I arched an eyebrow as I looked at the Martian. "You mean you think you've gotten the hang of it?"

She nodded before she looked back at Starfire. "We've been practicing talking via ultrasonic waves. It's not something Martians normally do, but I can form the organs to emit and hear them. If Machina and I go together, we should be able to talk without anyone noticing."

As she spoke, I formed the modified ultrasound emitter in the hollow of my throat, and when she was done talking I said " _Can you hear me?_ "

Miss Martian looked back at me, and without moving her mouth replied " _Loud and clear._ " It was definitely strange compared to normal speech, and not just because I could also 'see' the sound waves coming from her chest. The tone and timbre of the words were stilted compared to normal pitch, and it made her hard to read. Nevertheless, though we had to be in a certain proximity of one another, we could communicate without people being any the wiser.

I looked at Starfire. "We can do this. The choice is up to you."

Starfire thought about it for a moment before she said "Go with Miss Martian. I would rather have you there to back her up in the event that something went wrong."

I nodded and stepped towards Miss Martian. "Right, we'll report back soon."

"And be careful," Starfire insisted. "By X'hal, this world seems to hold a new unique danger around every corner."

I snorted. "Don't need to tell me twice."

* * *

The two of us swiftly made our way across the dunes to the first investigation point, Miss Martian flying through the air cloaked and myself running along the ground in xenomorph form. Optical camo still eluded me (but I was close, and man was I going to be less-than-responsible with it when I got it), but the night combined with my grey-silver skin made me very difficult to make out. Plus the desert was home to jackals, so if someone did see me they'd probably just think I was the local wildlife unless they got close.

At the speeds we were moving it only took a few minutes before an odd noise reached me. I had been listening for any Bialyan patrols, but what I was hearing was… odd. " _I'm hearing some really weird noises up ahead. Mechanical… I think. I'm not sure what to make of it._ " I projected up at the space I knew Miss Martian occupied. She had gotten better at her skill with cloaking, but my visual acuity was such that I could still make out the ripple of her form.

" _Right, I'll keep an eye out._ " She replied.

We crested over the last dune and found a large army tent centered in a small flat area, a few Humvees and supply trucks stationed next to it. Definitely military judging by the machine gun mounts, but otherwise pretty sparse. The top of the tent was covered by a large camouflage net, and I saw a number of soldier mulling about the outside dressed in desert gear. The mechanical noises were definitely coming from inside the tent, starting and stopping at irregular intervals.

I took in the position and movements of all of the guards, and after a few seconds I said " _This might be a little tricky for me if I don't start taking down soldiers, and I'm sure they're going to notice if I start doing that._ "

" _Then hang back here, I'll go into the tent first and report back._ "

I shook my head. " _We won't be able to talk then. Hold on, let's circle around for a second._ " We gave the camp a wide berth as we skirted around the edges, and soon enough I spotted what I was looking for. " _Right there, that stack of crates right next to tent wall. I can hide there and peer in front underneath the fabric. Can you phase through objects yet?_ " She shook her head and I continued. " _Alright, you go in the though the tent flap, try to time it will someone entering or leaving. Remember that spot, that's where I'll have some sensors poking through._ "

" _Got it._ " She flew off back towards the front, and I made my way down the dunes towards the tent. By this point I had gotten pretty good at sneaking around armed guards, so it wasn't too difficult to make it to the crates without being seen. I curled up in the dark space between the crates and the tent fabric before slipping my tail underneath the bottom of it, poking through just enough to form an eye, microphone, and ultrasound sensor. Having a separate third eye was a little disorienting, but as long as I didn't move I was fine.

Inside the tent was an odd sight. There were several people milling about, two soldiers, five in lab coats, and a man in a hooded jacket. There were a number of high tech devices and equipment as well, making this spot out to be some kind of remote research outpost. In the center of the tent there was a sort of platform supporting a spherical cage, in the center of which was a sphere. The metal the sphere was made of was very different, darker in color and slightly segmented. The sphere rapidly spun in place as electric sparks arced off of it, and that mechanical… screech emitted from it. It seemed pretty clear to me that the sphere was the 'extra-terrestrial material' that Batman had mentioned. It somehow… felt _more_ than the rest of the tech in the room.

I saw the outline of Miss Martian pass through the tent flap as one of the soldiers exited. And she hovered for a moment before I heard " _Machina, you there?_ "

" _Check._ " I responded. " _That sphere in the cage is what we're looking for, I'm sure of it._ " In the back of my mind I poked at the Algorithm, not trying to do anything specific but just getting a sense of the situation. It worked far better with direct contact, but-

One of the men in lab coats pushed a button on the cage, and more sparks arced off the sphere. It screamed again, and Miss Martian drifted towards it. " _I… feel it! I feel a presence from it. It feels like-_ "

"It's in pain." I finished for her. It wasn't just that the sounds it made were reminiscent of screams, I… felt it in a way I couldn't describe. Something in the Algorithm was telling me that the sphere was alive and in great distress. And for the briefest instant, when I was reaching out towards it with my technomancy, I felt a spark of acknowledgment.

Before I could do anything with that though, Miss Martian's outline sudden suddenly jerked, and I got the impression she was looking around wildly. " _What's wrong?_ " I asked, but she didn't respond. I then saw one of the men in the tent move, the man in the hooded overcoat with his back to me. He brought his very pale hands to the sides of his head-

Miss Martian let out an ear piecing scream as her camo dropped, everyone in the tent flinching from the sudden noise. I didn't think, I instantly ripped through the side of the tent and charged at the pale man. He didn't even have enough time to turn and look before I slammed into him, hitting him with enough force to send him flying back into a table and shatter it. The room erupted into more screams as the various scientists scattered away from me. The two nearby soldiers raised the guns towards me, but I was already flipping towards them, ripping the guns out of their hands as I landed.

My body thickened a bit as I reared up onto my hind legs, my limbs and torso becoming more 'muscular' as I reach out and grabbed the two. I slammed the two men together hard enough to knock them unconscious and let them drop to the floor. I then turned to check on Miss Martian… and found her now missing. The torn tent flap made it clear that she had exited when I wasn't looking. Shit!

Before I could go after her, a mechanical noise drew my attention to the sphere. The sound was desperate and pleading, and all too familiar to me. After all I had been in the same position months ago.

 _Help me._

I only hesitated for a moment before I dashed at the sphere's cage and slashed at the base of it with my claw, rending the metal and destroying one of the prongs holding it in place. That was enough, as the sphere then spun into the damaged metal fast enough to grind itself out of its confinement. With surprising agility it darted side to side before it came to a stop, making a pleased series of beeps.

"W-well that was just rude." I turned back to see the probable-psychic awkwardly pulling himself to his feet and glaring at me. His hood had been thrown back, and as I result I got a clear look at his head. 'Clear' was the operative word to use, as aside from two thin strips of pale flesh tracing back over his head from his brow, the top half of his head was completely transparent. The man's engorged brain was on full display and I swore I saw it twitch a little as he snarled. "Psimon is going to have to teach you some manners. Psimon says- Aaargh!"

I felt my body tingle just before the psychic clutched his head in pain. I hadn't felt that since the last time Miss Martian had tried to telepathically talk to me (when I wasn't in ansible form). And it seemed getting the feedback from countless nanites as once wasn't pleasant for him either. The pain passed, but when the man realized that his powers were useless, his eyes widened in fear. "Oh shit."

"I don't have time to deal with you." I said as I shifted into my flight form before firing off a bolt of lightning at the man. He crumpled with a choked scream. I then turned in an arc around the room, lightning arcing from my hand to all the equipment and destroying it.

The instant I stepped out of the tent several soldiers opened fire on me, but I had already formed kinetic dampeners so I just ignored it in favor of looking for Miss Martian. I only saw a tiny speck of distortion in the distance before it disappeared from sight, and nothing else. I took a moment to fry every vehicle in the vicinity before I took off after it, hoping that my teammate was alright.

* * *

To my relief it hadn't been too difficult to find Miss Martian; she had moved in a straight line out from the tent entrance about a kilometer. To my dismay though, I found her unconscious on the side of a sand dune.

"Ah fuck." I muttered as I leaned over her, my hand shifting into a medical diagnostic tool and a screen popping up in my vision as I started to scan her. While I wasn't an expert by any means, I had gotten some data from Martian Manhunter on Martian physiology, so I had an idea of what to look out for. _Let's see, physical integrity looks good, spectral analysis shows normal composition, 'neural' activity is… odd. I think._

I let out an annoyed growl as I gave up on trying to parse the alien data and looked down at my unconscious teammate. All I could say for certain was that she probably experienced some kind of psychic attack. _Figures that they had someone that could intercept telepathic communications,_ I groused internally. _Yet another thing I failed to anticipate._

In any case, it was probably safe to move her, and I was going to have to soon. Even destroying all the equipment on my way out probably wouldn't stop them from coming after us, and we were much too close for comfort. Hell, base camp was much too close for comfort. I needed to bring Miss Martian back to the team so we could all get the hell out of here; the mission was basically over now. In fact the team should already be scrabbling considering they were part of the… psychic… link.

Oh. That can't be good.

My bindsight picked up movement at the top of the dune behind me, and I turned to see the giant sphere I had liberated cresting over the top of it. I watched nonplussed (though still wary) as the machine rolled down the sand towards me. I braced myself as it got closer, but it slowed and come to a stop about two meters away from me before turning ninety degrees and opening an aperture on its 'side', revealing a mechanical eye. Well, a red circle with a number of flowing patterns across it in any case, but given how it was currently angled towards my head…

"…Hello." I said after a few long seconds.

[ _Gr_ ( **Sa** 3H&Th$ _eet_! **lut** ell _ings_ /o*anks^ **io** % **ns** (-]

I stagger backwards at massive… stimulus that assaulted me, countless streams fragmented data input right into my mind. My arm formed into a laser canon, but before I could do anything the sphere rolled back and made a number of distressed noises.

[ **S** W _H_ **o** a _o_ **r** i _l_ **r** t _d_ **y** ]

That was… still confusing but much better. At the very least I got the impression that it wasn't trying to attack me. My arm shifted back to normal and I walked back towards it, the machine making a series of noises as it tried to work out how to properly communicate with me. I wasn't sure how it would react to me using my abilities on it, but I didn't have a lot of time, and finding out just what this thing was could help salvage the mission a little. I reached out and touched the surface of the sphere, drawing on another Algorithm script as I did so, incomplete as it was.

 _Technological Pattern Analysis_.

The sphere's hardware and software schema unfolded in my mind, something both greater and lesser than what I was expecting. It was incredibly advance to be sure, but I felt I was missing something a lot. I quickly realized that I was only skimming the surface of the machine entity, and just beneath there was something… _more_. A mind, connected to a power that felt vast but distant. Alien, yet the barest bit familiar. That mind reached towards my power, reaching out in kind to touch.

It an instant, the digital voice resolved itself. [Apologies, noble machine spirit! I have never encounter a machine such as yourself. Both many, yet also one? Curious for a Prime such as yourself. Required communication protocols were… difficult to discern. Regardless, I give you my thanks for providing my salvation!]

I arched any eyebrow as I pulled my hand back and tried to figure out how to handle this new complication. "I see. Well, I'm Machina. Err… who and what are you?"

[I am a Scout-Class Type IV New Genesphere, serial number 72046-Fel-Alvec-Rom.]

 _That_ got my attention. "New Genesphere? As in, from the world of New Genesis?"

[Forsooth! You are familiar with the home of the New Gods! This simplifies much. I was on patrol on one of our observed worlds when I was ambushed by agents of Apokolips and cast here, though I know not for what nefarious purpose. Those organics they left me with were most unpleasant. They were most likely minions or collaborators to that ruinous power.]

There was a _lot_ to unpack from that statement… which I quite frankly did not have time for. "We are definitely going to talk about that later, but right now I have other thing to worry about." I gestured to the downed Miss Martian. "She got hit with some kind of psychic attack, and if my guess it right, the rest of my team got hit with it too through a psychic link. I have to get her back to my team as fast as possible."

The sphere made a new series of beeps. [Of course! We must exfiltrate enemy territory first. Allow me to assist in this, machine spirit. As thanks for granting me my freedom.]

"Uh, sure, though at this point we're really just trying to get out of here." A thought occurred to me. "Hey, I don't suppose you can open a Boom Tube, can you?"

[Alas, no. I am but a lowly New Genesphere, not powerful or advanced enough to have such a function. You would need a mighty Motherbox to bend space for transportation purposes.] The sphere's eye turned slightly, and I got the impression it was tilting its head. [Are you not capable of such a function? Are you not a Prime?]

"Not yet, but I'm working on it." _Stupid super complicated Zeta particles,_ I thought as I scooped Miss Martian off the sandy ground and into my arms. "So, we're going to have to do this the old fashioned way. Follow me, I-"

[Hold! I can carry the fallen teammate!] Before I could express my doubts about the sphere's ability to hold things, the machine… unfolded. The grey plates bent and gave way to an expanding fuselage and wheels. In a matter of seconds the sphere had transformed into a massive trike, its triangular chassis a deep red in contrast to its black and blue wheels. There was a space in front for a pilot, and a large empty section in the back for passengers. Sphere's beeping voice had also become a bit deeper, and I could see New God circuitry between its plating. A moment later the vehicle started to hover off the ground.

I stared at this for a moment before I shrugged. "You know, I've seen weirder. Let's go."

* * *

Base camp was deserted.

The giant terminal pylon was still there, but my teammates were notably absent. I held back a groan as I left M'gann with the sphere (Trike?) and searched the area, trying to find any sign of what happened or where they had gone. While it had been a relatively minor part of my training, the team had been taught investigative techniques, so I had a rough idea of what to look for. _Let's see… no blood or obvious signs of a fight. Maybe they all passed out like M'gann and someone found them and took them away? But in that case I'd think there would be drag marks or vehicle tracks._

I gradually widened my search, looping around the camp three times before I finally found a set of footprints, leading away from camp. The sand was too loose to anything identifiable, but it was definite a single set of prints leading away from camp. I was going to follow them before something caught the corner of my eye. I moved a few meters to the side and found another set of tracks, also moving away from the camp but in a different direction. A little more searching revealed two more sets of tracks (and a small sand crater), all pointing away in different directions.

I really didn't like what that implied. Because if my hunch was right, that meant my entire team had just split up and wandered into the Bialyan desert. I couldn't track them via comms, I couldn't call the League for help, and the Bialyan military (in addition to causing the first two problems) was hunting us all. And I was the only one who could do anything about it.

"Every fucking mission..."

=====A======

A/N: And now for the adventures of Machina and Sphere.


	35. 9-3

=====A=====

There was no reason to stick around the abandoned base camp, so I picked up the sensor pylon and trekked over to where we had parked the bioship. Thankfully she was not missing as well, cloaked right were we left her. I set the pylon down and touched my hand to her side, focusing The Algorithm in a similar way I had just used it with the sphere.

It was hard to describe just how I 'talked' to Moya. Then again, 'talk' is a bit of a strong term, it more general impressions and feel as expressed by complex math. I would call it similar to a psychic link if actual psychic on the team hadn't been baffled by what I was doing the last time I showed her. Hell, Moya didn't know what I was doing at first either. It took a while to find the right kind of math that she understood, very different from all the math I use for Earth tech.

The trike beeped as the bioship decloaked and extended a ramp for us to enter. [The technology at your command is far different and superior from that the collaborators possessed. I assume that this ship is of your own lineage?]

"Um, no." I said as I lifted M'gann out of the trike seat and walked up the ramp. "The bioship is from Mars. Similarities between myself and her are coincidental. Though I suppose she is more similar to me than most other tech on the planet." Assuming that there weren't any other bits of Martian technology on Earth, anyway.

The trike folded in on itself and in moments it was in its much more compact sphere form rolling up the ramp after me. [Curious. Then perhaps you seek to develop yourself along a certain technological line, and are collecting similar artifice as part of your progress? Oh, or is this a fellow machine spirit that is part of your retinue?] A gasp, and the sphere angled upwards to look at the ceiling. [Oh forgive the potential rudeness, if thou bears the Gift of Mind! I am not capable of sensing such things in most cases, I only felt the Prime's through his sheer presence!]

I stared at the sphere for a long moment as I tried to sort out how to respond to that. Eventually I settled on "Well, Moya is aware, though communication with non-psychic entities is a little tricky." It was… difficult to quantify just how intelligent Moya was, at least by earth standards. She was certainly sentient, but sapience was a lot more questionable. The Martians took specific care as to what traits their ships developed to make them easier to handle, and this could result in some oddities. For instance while capable of some degree of independent thought, Moya was incapable of getting bored or lonely. If the bioship went without contact for long enough she would simply become dormant until someone came along.

A spot in the back of the command deck had already formed into a makeshift bed, and I placed M'gann down on it. "Anyway, introductions. This is Moya." I said as I gestured to the ship around us. "Moya, this is… I'm sorry, but do you have name?"

[My serial number is 72046-Fel-Alvec-Rom-]

"No, I mean what to the New Gods call you when they talk to you?"

[I have not had many conversations with the New Gods, but they have always referred to me as 'the New Genesphere'. A few of the younger ones referred to me as a Super Cycle.]

I frowned as I looked at the ball. "I'm not using what you are in place of an actual name." I thought about it for a moment, trying to think of what name would suit a sapient techoball-cum-trike. Come to think of it I wasn't really sure if the sphere was male, female, or something else entirely. I wasn't really hearing a voice when it communicated to me, more of an impression. And… I suppose it felt female?

And just like that a memory floated up to the surface. _Well, I already pulled another name from a sapient sci-fi vehicle_ , I thought. "How about I call you Rommie?"

[A personal designation! I shall wear it with pride!]

"Glad to hear it." I said as I settled into the command chair and put my hands on the control obs. "Alright Moya, everything's gone tits-up, my team has scattered to fuck knows where, and we need to find them. I can't track them the easy way, so we're just going to have to do sweeps of the surrounding area."

Moya took off and we flew across the desert, moving out in a spiral pattern from where we had made camp. Given the timing, at least some of them couldn't have gotten far. Unfortunately, while I could fly her, I had no idea how to work or understand Moya's sensory organs, so I had to get a little creative. After some gentle poking with technomancy, all of the seats and counters on the command deck melted into the floor. Most of the front of the ship then turned into transparent windows, giving me a clear view of everything in front of us.

As we silently moved through the sky and I scanned the desert, I said "So, I have to ask. You keep calling me a 'Prime'. Why? What exactly is that?"

[Apologies, it was the closest term I had. Among the machine spirits of the New Gods, Primes are considered to be the highest ranking and most powerful. All Motherboxes are of course are among their prestigious number, though there are many other machine spirits that were created or risen to that rank. I do not know how the machine spirits of your world prioritize themselves, but surely you must be among the upper echelons.]

"…Not exactly. Proper machine intelligences are very rare on earth. There simply aren't enough of us for there to be a hierarchy."

Rommie made some confused beeps. [But, your power felt so close to the touch of a Motherbox, I had assumed…]

I wasn't entirely sure what the sphere was getting at, but I said "I'm very unique. As far as I know, I am the only one on this world that has this kind of power. Well, save for perhaps one." The thoughts drifted to the Remnant for a moment before I returned my attention back to the present. "In any case, my power doesn't elevate me over the other AI. And I certainly am not going to use it to force them."

[Truthfully? This world is most confounding… It is decided! I shall endeavor to meet these intelligences, so that I may properly understand!]

"Well, I can introduce you to one as soon as we get back."

We flew in silence after that, the terrain passing by without a sign of anyone. I suppose I should have been grateful not to have seen any of the Bialyan military yet, but that didn't mean they hadn't run into my teammates first. It would take them time to mobilize properly, but all it would take is for one of them to get lucky…

Finally, about an hour before dawn, I saw something. In infrared I spotted a red dot moving through the dark blue landscape in a parabolic arc, hitting the ground before pushing off into the air again. There was little guess as to who in this desert would be moving like that. "What are you doing, Superboy?" I wondered to myself as I stepped back from the controls. "Rommie, stay here a moment while I take care of this. Moya, open a hatch."

A hole in the floor opened up in front of me and I dropped out of it, angling my fall so that I was in the half Kryptonian's path. The timing was such that Superboy and I landed at the same time, the two of us facing each other about 5 meters apart. The teen looked alarmed at my sudden presence. "Superboy, what happened?" I asked warily. "Where is everyone else?"

In response, Superboy gave an incoherent scream of rage and jumped at me, fist brought up to pulverize me into the sand.

My response in kind was to duck forward and uppercut, the kinetic amplifier in my arm triggering the moment my fist slammed into his sternum.

I had been half expecting my teammates to not be in a good state of mind when I found them, and I had sparred with Superboy often enough to know how to response to a wild leap like that. Superboy was stronger than me, even when I dedicated all of my mass and power to physical strength, but he lacked a key component to actually using that strength like Superman (or Starfire) could: flight. Or more accurately, the leverage shenanigans that comes with it. Due to his mass and human biomechanics, he can never actually use his full strength in a strike without bracing against something first. In the air, he can't brace against anything at all.

And while I may not have been in my strongest form at the moment, my lifting capacity was still measured in tons.

The impact caused sand to blow away from us and flung him over me, the combined momentum sending him tumbling into a sand dune. I turned to look with my hands on my hips. "Come on, if you're going to come swinging at me I know you can do better than that." I said. Alright, maybe not the best thing to say, but I needed to figure out just what was going on with him. Had he been brainwashed into being evil or was he just in a berserk rage?

Given how he popped out of the sand dune screaming madly, I was inclined to go with the second one. My body shifted slightly as Superboy charged me. The air jets shrank and reconfigured to favor bursts over sustained force. I stepped to the side of his wild haymaker before bursting forward, air jets rocketing my fist into his torso and knocking him to the ground. Superboy snarled and lunged at my legs, but I flipped over him. As I landed I spun, jets firing to send me into a fast hurricane kick that slammed into the teens side, sending him staggering. "Come on, we both know you can do better than that!" I taunted, settling into a fighting stance as I watched his reaction.

Superboy came at me hard, but without any of the skill he should have had. He threw wild punches which I parried or ducked, he got disordered when I rapidly dashed around him, and he was unable to respond when I hit him with rapid combos. Though it shouldn't have been working this well, this was a fighting style I had sort of developed to fight him with. When it came to sparring all out with bruisers like Superboy and Kori, I found two approaches worked the best. The first was to be constantly shapeshift into new and unusual forms, never using the same attack too much and attacking from odd angles. The second was to remain humanoid, but give myself enhancements to how I moved and struck. The air jets gave me bursts of speed that let me strike without footing, accelerate instantly, or dash through the air. As well as give my limbs extra striking power and torque.

In other words it let me turn myself into a fighting game character.

After a few more attempts Superboy seemed to get frustrated and simply jumped, arcing straight back through the air as he tried to get away from me. "Oh no you don't!" I yelled as I jetted at him, a grapple launcher forming on one arm as I cleared a sand dune. When Superboy landed some distance away I shot the grapple at his legs, tangling them up and causing him to fall before he could leap away again. He growled as he grabbed the line and ripped it apart. I felt a slight twinge of pain as the line turned to dust, but it gave me the time to clear the distance and rocket slide tackle his legs out from under him. "Come on, snap out of it already!" I yelled as I flipped over him again, landing several spinning strikes to keep him off balance. Superboy just roared in anger as he tried to grab a hold of me.

This… wasn't working. I had hoped that whatever was wrong with Superboy was something I could either talk him out of or smack him out of. But instead he was just in some kind of mindless rage, which left me with knocking him out. In his current state it would take forever to wear Superboy down, and I simply didn't have that kind of time. Grappling was out of the question as he could literally tear me apart if I tried. I needed to finish this, and I could only think of one way to do it. "Damn it…" I muttered under my breath as I pushed back. "Sorry about this." I said as the internals of my arms changed.

You often hear how Superman gets his powers from 'the light of a yellow sun', but that statement is a little misleading (never mind that the light from the sun is white). A more accurate statement would be that he gets his power from 'the specific combined particle emissions from a main sequence star in the middle of its lifetime.' Tamaranians might only need ultraviolet light, but Kryptonians need something more complex. It's not just the frequency of light that does it, which is why Superman doesn't find himself suddenly powerless every dawn and dusk. Or when he's hit by a red laser. Of course, if you happen to know this and have access Kryptonian medical data specifically detailing the particle ratios…

The palms of my hands formed apertures, and when Superboy charged me they opened and fired Red Sun particle beams at him.

Superboy staggered back from the burst of red light, and I cut it off quickly. For a moment he looked a little disoriented before he yelled and charged me again. I knocked his punch to the side, noting that it felt slightly weaker. So I hit him with another blast after stepping into his guard making sure to hit his exposed skin. He yelled in something that might have been pain, but he kept coming. So I kept blasting him.

Little by little his hits got weaker and weaker. I stopped parrying his hits and started blocking them. I had to do even that less and less until finally his fist slammed into my chest and I did didn't even move. I grabbed his arm with one hand and put the other on his chest. "Sorry man." I said right before I shocked him unconscious.

I sighed as I watched him crumple to the ground before checking him over, making sure that he didn't have any obvious injuries. I saw a few first degree burns on his exposed skin, but other than that he looked fine. "Oh, how am I going to fix this?" I muttered to myself as I picked the teen up in a fireman carry, reconfiguring for flight and taking off into the air.

A few second later I entered Moya through an opening she made for me. "Moya, I'm going to need another bed. This one with restraints."

Rommie rolled over as I set Superboy down on the forming bed. [Oh no! A villain has struck down your companion!]

"Err, no, that was me. He was not in his right mind." As the restraints sealed into place, I walked to the storage locker and started rifling through it. The team kept spares of our equipment on the ship, along with a few bits of odds and ends for times like this one. Soon enough I found and pulled out a wide-spectrum flood light I had developed, mounting it above Superboy's bed. I set the light to red and turned it on. The simple red light wouldn't drain his power like the laser cannon did, but it should help block the yellow light from reaching him when daybreak came. I really hopped that I had a solution to that particular problem before-

A small groan got my attention, and I looked to the other side of the command deck to see M'gann rubbing her head and sitting up on the bed. "Oh thank Christ," I muttered as I walked over and touched her shoulder. "Easy there, you're safe."

Rommie rolled up next to her. [Good health upon you, one with the open mind! I am Rommie!]

She blinked a few times before her eyes focused on me. She stared for a moment before I felt my body tingle and she clutched her head in pain and recoiled. "Ah! T-trala eken?"

I looked at her in confusion. "Err… what? M'gann, are you feeling alright?" How out of it was she? She hadn't tried to do that for months.

She shook her head and looked back at me. "Oh, English! I can do English! Um, sorry, but who are you? And… what are you?"

…oh fuck everything.

"M'gann… what's the last thing you remember?"

The girl gave me a puzzled expression as she got to her feet. "I was-" She stopped when she saw the windows that looked out over the desert. "Wait, this isn't… we're not on Mars. Oh, Hello Megan! I'm on Earth! But, how did I get here?"

I didn't answer at first, trying to clamp down on the growing panic. She had lost at least months of memory. Was this permanent? Was the rest of the team in the same state? Could they defend themselves? Did Kori forg-

I went still as I got myself under control. After a few seconds I said, "Well, as to why you are on Earth, you hitched a ride with your uncle and joined a superhero team two months ago. As to why you're in a desert, we had a mission here to find the source of some strange energy signatures. As to why you are in the bioship, you just had an encounter with an enemy psychic, and I found you passed out on a sand dune before I brought you up here."

"That…" M'gann frowned and blinked, "is very strange. But now that you mention it, there are fragments of memory in my mind I can't place."

"Great, can you fix it? I mean, I know that you're probably not in a great position to do so, but I- we need to be able to fix this. You were psychically linked to the rest of our team when you got hit with this thing, and it seems they all wandered off into the desert in random directions right after. I found one, and he was a psychotic mess." I pointed at the unconscious form of Superboy.

M'gann looked at the teen with curiosity. "Who's that? He seems…" She trailed off.

"He's the Senpai you're trying to get to notice you."

"Senpai? Is that a human thing? I-is is a relationship thing?"

I grunted. "You can tell me after you get your memory back. Now, can you do it or not?"

She looked back at me. "If you're right, I should be able to rebuild the memories if I could experience similar memories of the same event from someone else. If you are my teammate, I could view your memories of our time working together. But when I tried to mentally talk to you…"

I hesitated for a long moment before I said "That won't be a problem. I normally don't respond well to psychic contact, but I can shapeshift into a psychic ansible." There was a decent chance that if she went rifling through my mind she would find my meta-knowledge, but quite frankly with the lives of my team on the line it was a risk I was willing to take. If she sees something she shouldn't, well, I'll burn that bridge when we cross it. "That said, I do have some personal stuff I'd rather you not go poking at. Focus on the two of us, and what happened in the last 24 hours."

"I can work with that." She said, and without further delay I shifted into the ansible, all of my senses going dark. I was alone for a few seconds before I felt a familiar connection form, and suddenly the two of us were floating in a nebulous void, dark colors flowing around us. {Oh, this is… intense. It is like connecting to a-. No, focus.} She chided herself before her eyes started to glow white. There was something I could only describe as a sort pulling sensation and-

 _{I… feel it! I feel a presence from it-Can you hear me-The Watchtower detected an immense power surge out in the Bialyan desert-and it has so much brain to use-You think I could name her Moya- You're a good girl M'gann-}_

M'gann shook as her eyes returned to normal. {Jacob! I remember!} She then gasped. {Superboy! What happened?! Is he okay?!} Though I couldn't see her real body, I somehow got the impression that she had rushed over to Superboy's side.

I rolled my eyes (Or at least I did a few seconds later as I resumed humanoid form). "I had to knock him out. He was… mad, attacking me without thought. I tried reasoning with him and knocking some sense into him, but I had to knock pretty hard." I said as I walked up next to her. In spite of the situation, I couldn't help the feeling of relief that spread through me. Everything was going to be fine. Just fine.

"If he lost his memories like I did, well, several months ago he had never even been conscious." She said as she laid a hand on his forehead. "All he would have is instinct and impulses."

"And his instincts were to try to kill me? Boy's got issues. Can you fix him?"

The girl put her hands on the sides of his head and was silent for a moment. After a second she said, "Yes. I've help put his memories back in order, but he still needs to wake up before he can process it. He shouldn't try to hurt anyone, but he'll be disoriented for a few minutes."

I reached up and switched off the red light hanging above him. "Once dawn comes we can put him in the sun to speed up his recovery. But for now, we've still got five more teammates to find." I reminded her.

"I can find them! And you can help!" Miss Martian said. "In your ansible form you can give my telepathy a boost in range. We'll search the whole desert in no time!"

I frowned. "No offense, but it was someone intercepting your telepathy that caused this to begin with, and he'd still be out there. You sure spreading your mind across the entire desert's a good idea?"

"Ah… good point." She admitted. "But that was before I knew he was there. And with your help I can fortify my mental defenses. If I don't extend myself too far, we can still work together to do a wide search and be protected in case we stumble on that man again."

[Fear not! For I have sensed the algorithmic integrity of Machina and found it most stalwart! None shall breach his protocols!]

M'gann gave the sphere and odd look. "Umm, thank you? I think?"

"She can't understand you, Rommie. Oh, also, M'gann this is Rommie, the friendly alien machine lifeform we rescued. Also, Rommie, thank you for the vote of confidence." It was a risk, but we really didn't have time to waste. And if we did happen to run into Psimon again, well, perhaps I let him off too lightly.

I could fix that.

* * *

With my help, Miss Martian's telepathic range safely extended several kilometers. Still, we had an entire desert to search and a third world military to avoid. The latter was not too difficult with Moya in camouflage mode, but it did muddle the search a bit. Miss Martian was using her telepathy to find intelligent minds, and we stumbled across a few patrols who I imagined were also looking for our teammates. I started to wonder just how many there were out here, and just what kind of support structure they had.

It was a little past dawn before we found something. {There!} Miss Martian exclaimed, and in the swath of dark shapes and points of light that was my current perception, I saw two points form in the distance. {Robin and Aqualad, I am sure of it. I can contact them-}

{We should probably meet them first.} I interrupted. {If they don't remember you, it's going to be difficult for an unfamiliar voice in their head to convince them to let it go rifling through their minds.}

{Ah, fair enough.} Moya changed course and headed for the points we saw, only a couple of kilometers away. As such it wasn't long before we spotted a rocky outcropping amid the sand, forming an overhang that could provide shelter from the sun.

Switching back to humanoid form through, I noticed something that the telepathic scan missed. "It looks like we're not the only ones who found them," I remarked as I looked at the dots circling in the air. Focusing in revealed them to be a trio of unmanned aerial vehicles, very reminiscent of Predator drones back from my world. Though these ones seemed to be a lot more maneuverable than I really thought they should be, considering that they were making very low passes near the ground.

 _How did these things get here?_ I wondered as one fired a torrent of bullets at the outcropping. _You need a runaway and specialized maintenance crew for those things, and last I checked there wasn't a Bialyan military base near here. Maybe their range is just better than I thought?_

In any case, Miss Martian and I wasted no time in jumping out of the bioship and flying straight at the drones. As we approached, one was circling back around for another pass while the other two flew side by side past the rocky position. "You take that one, I'll take these two!" I shouted over the wind, and the two us spilt up after our respective targets.

I flew up above and to the side of one before giving up the thrusters on my right arm to form a powerful electro-magnet. I set it to repulse and put it on full power as I pointed it at the drone. To my surprise though the machine only wobbled a little before it corrected itself against the new force, and I barely felt any force in return. _Is it made out of non-ferric metals?_ I wondered. Not entirely since it had some effect, but I was expecting more force than that. I had been hoping to control the drones decent to make sure it didn't crash near my teammates, but it seemed I would have to take a more manual approach.

I pitched myself and shot down towards the drone, landing atop it with a heavy crash just as it started to make another strafing run. On impact the UAV swerved off to the side and tried to recover, but electricity arced off my body and into the machine. Its engine died and it started to drop, and I activated my own thrusters to guide the falling craft away from the group and towards the other drone. The second drone didn't see the first careening towards it, and as such the two collided and were sent rocketing to the ground. I leapt off and let gravity finish my work.

The two craft smashed into the ground and fractured into large pieces. Looking back I saw that Miss Martian had similar results with her drone, so I landed on top of the remains of one of their main chassis and speared my foot through it. I didn't have high hopes that that Bialyan military wouldn't be able to identify us, but that was no reason to make their job easier. Destroying any black boxes that these craft might have was sensible. However, as I was tearing through the wreckage of the drone with assimilation spikes I felt something unusual, the composition of the frame and electronics more… alien than expected. There were human components as well, but other parts were made of exotic elements and configurations.

And it… tasted foul?

Suddenly both the downed craft exploded, just enough to shred whatever was left of them. I stumbled back in pain as I lost a small part of my foot, balancing for a moment before the damage healed. That was definitely a self-destruct function, and one that activated in response to my poking around inside. Bialya didn't want anyone to see what they had been adding to their tech. And given what Rommie had told me, and what I had just felt, I had a pretty good guess as to where they got it from.

I stared at the wreckage for a moment before I turned and head back towards the rocky outcropping. _Team first, implications later_. As I crested over the dune I saw Miss Martian along with Robin and Aqualad, walking out from underneath the overhang. The ruins of the other drone was a short distance away, similarly shredded as the others. "…We are on a team together." I heard the Martian say. "For a few months now. We were sent out on this mission together, but a human psychic wiped our memories."

Robin raised an eyebrow before he brought his wrist mounted computer up. "That would explain the forgetfulness, but that would mean it was- September?!" he yelled as he saw the date on the holographic screen. "What happened to March?!"

Aqualad frowned, though it was hard to tell if it was because of Miss Martian's claim or due to the heat. The sun had only just crested the horizon, but it was probably quite warm already. That plus the dry climate wasn't doing the Atlantian any favors. "You may be telling the truth… but we have no way to confirm it." He looked over at me as I approached. "How do we know that you're who you say you are?"

"Considering there's no way for us to radio out without the military noticing, I suppose you can't really confirm it." I replied. "That said, I can tell you that you're parents' names are Calvin and Sha'lain'a. And that you hate cooked eel, for some reason."

The teen looked surprised before he glanced at Robin. The kid gave me a once over before he shrugged. "Alright, let's say we believe you, now what?"

Miss Martian perked up. "I can restore your memories. I can use my own to help you remember, though you'll have to let me into your minds."

Aqualad hesitated. "I am a little wary considering a psychic caused this in the first place… but I don't see an alternative. Do it."

Miss Martian put a hand to her head and closed her eyes, and the other two developed blank expressions before closing their eyes in turn. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then, Robin and Aqualad's eyes snapped open, the latter of which rubbed the side of his head. "Thank you, M'gann. Those gaps in my memories were disconcerting. What is our status?"

"The rest of our team, save Superboy, is scattered to the winds and missing their memories." I replied. "I've been trying to hunt you guys down since the guy with the transparent skull invaded the link. I found Miss Martian and Superboy, but I had to knock him unconscious to calm him down. The military is clearly aware of us, but I managed to get what we came for. We need to find the rest of our team and get the fuck out of here."

"…I would not have put it that way, though I agree with the sentiment. Unfortunately, we don't know where anyone else is." He stopped and looked off to the side, staring at something in the distance. "However, I did see Starfire."

"You did? Where did she go?"

He pointed in the direction he was looking. "I saw her flying through the air, though I did not know who she was at the time. As such I didn't call out to her, but I did follow in case she was headed in the direction of shelter. I lost her soon after, but by luck I stumbled upon Robin shortly thereafter."

I looked in the direction before looking back. "Well, what are we waiting for?"

* * *

This time it didn't take long before we found something, though it was not what I was hoping for.

The team moved through a blasted patch of desert, clear signs of some kind of fight all around us. There were bits of destroyed jeeps scattered across a dune, a few parts smoldering. There were no bodies thankfully, but several spots of sand in the area had been glassed, as if they had been hit by high energy plasma. I approached one of the spots and did a quick scan, my mouth pressing into a thin line as the results I had been expecting came back. "Yep, this is Starfire's work alright."

"Then we should keep going!" Miss Martian insisted. "She probably kept flying in this direction, and she might need our help."

"This is the only lead we have," Robin agreed. "We should-"

"Wait." I said. Everyone turned to look at me, but I continued to stare into the distance for a long moment, considering everything I knew and weighing my options. Eventually I grit my teeth before I turned and started walking back towards them. "Starfire's path is taking her straight away from base camp. I'm not sure about Kid Flash, but Artemis still has to be somewhere close. We should search for them first, they're in far more danger from the Bialyan military than Starfire is at the moment."

Aqualad gave me a critical look. "Are you sure, Machina? Robin is correct about this being our only lead."

"She could have changed course after this. If we know for certain where she is, we go after her. But until then we should find the rest of the team first." I let out a breath. "Besides, if she had her memory our leader would want us to find the rest of the team first before we looked for her."

Aqualad considered this before he finally nodded. "Very well. We search for Artemis and Kid Flash."

The team headed back the bioship, and I headed up the rear. I didn't look back at the wreckage of Kori's battle. Six months ago Kori was a prisoner of war, and now to her perspective she was suddenly free on an unknown world. She had been trained to deal with extreme situations. Even without the last six months of her memory, Kori could take care of herself.

She had to.

=====A=====

A/N: This was originally going to be one big chapter, but the way it ended up developing I split it into two. The next one should be out realitvly soon, seeing as how it is about two thirds done.


	36. 9-4

=====A=====

After we returned to the bioship, we resumed our telepathic sweep of the desert. The spiral pattern had already increased to a few miles in radius, so Aqualad suggested that we start searching for nearby structures or landmarks instead. He reasoned that by this point Kid Flash and Artemis would have moved away from the open desert and started looking for shelter, so we should prioritize finding those first. We agreed and started flying to the unique bits of topography we had on our maps, rock formations and oases and the like.

About 70 minutes after we started, Miss Martian perked up, and I got the same sensation as I did the last time: two points of light forming in my perception. {There they are!} she said. {Kid Flash and Artemis, they're together! But…}

{But what?} I asked.

{I think I heard something? Like, an explosion.}

We got Moya headed in the right direction and I shifted back to humanoid. My ability to hear outside of the ship wasn't particularly good, but after a few seconds I heard a low thump, like a very loud noise originating from far away. And I had very few guesses as to what could be causing that. "I guess I was lucky to have found Superboy before anyone else did," I muttered to myself. Then again I suppose the military was lucky for that too.

In short order we found ourselves a rocky canyon, a ragged scar that cut through a small part of the desert. It would have been next to impossible to see from the ground, but from the air we could see down into canyon and at the dark blur moving quickly through it. Zooming my vision in I confirmed that it was Kid Flash, and he was carrying Artemis in a bridal carry. He moved in a zigzag pattern, and an explosion impacted a spot he had been occupying a split second ago.

Looking back towards the origin of the shell revealed the cause. There was a line of vehicles, several Humvees and an actual goddamn tank rolling after the pair. Two of the fast vehicles were accelerating after our teammate while two more of them hung back with the heavier armor. Kid Flash probably could outpace them, even boxed in like he was, but there was always the chance that tank would make a lucky shot. _And just how is it managing to track the speedster with its cannon at all?_ I wondered.

I grunted and asked Moya to open a hatch in the floor. "Alright. You guys rendezvous with Kid Flash and Artemis, I'll take care of the tank."

"Wait, what-"

I didn't hear the rest of Robin's statement, as I had already dropped into the open air and was free falling towards the tank. The man standing in the open-hatch gun turret didn't notice me until I slammed into the armor next to him. To his credit, even while he screamed in surprise, his reflexes were fast enough that he immediately ducked down into the tank and closed the lid shut before I could reach him. I moved to the lid and pulled my arm back, my hand forming into a massive claw before slashing at the hatch. However, while several deep gouges formed on the armor, the hatch remain intact and shut.

I growled as I forced my fingers into the reinforced hinge on the hatch, simply tearing the metal apart with assimilation spikes. _Note to self, step up research on high frequency weaponry_ , I thought as the metal gave way and I tore the lid off. The soldier who had dodged me before tried to duck down deeper into the tank as light poured into the vehicle's insides, but I reached down and grabbed him before he could get away. I yanked him up and glowered at him. "You fire tank shells at everyone who enters your country?"

I didn't get a response before I heard shouting behind me, and with my blindsight I saw one of the Humvees pull up alongside the tank, and a man on the mounted .50 caliber machine gun swing the weapon in my direction. I was still holding the soldier in my hand though, so I whipped out my arm and placed it between the gun and the man I was holding.

The original Psion shield I had consumed was very inflexible, forming a large, immovable dome that anchored the emitter in place. It was only recently that I managed to get something much more manageable. The emitter finished forming on my arm, and an instant later a transparent blue hexagon about a meter across formed as a shield, the incoming bullets causing ripples as they hit it. "Do none of you people understand the concept of friendly fire?!" I yelled at the gunner. With both of my other hands occupied, I grew a mechadendrite limb from my back tipped with a small laser canon and arched it over my shield. I fired at the ammo belt connected to the weapon, and the gunner had just enough time to dive away before all the bullets detonated.

With that out of the way, I returned my attention to the man in my grip. "Leave them alone or I won't be so careful next time," I said before I tossed him to the sand. I then climbed into the tank's command deck. The three soldiers inside screamed and pulled guns, but none of them fired (probably afraid of ricochets in such a tight space). "Hey guys, what's going on, oh hey this looks important," I said right before I shoved my hand into the bank of electronics next to me. My assimilation spikes spread throughout the interior wall of the tank, consuming and ripping apart anything I could find. The men took this opportunity to scramble out of the hatch and away from me. I didn't stop them, but I did use my free hand to grab one of the radios off their belt.

As I took the inside of the tank apart, I kept careful note of the components that made up the electronics, and sure enough I found several bits that weren't made on earth. Similar to the parts I found inside the drones. I swiftly tore out the radio console (leaving it intact) before I tried to extract the components, but they self-destructed like before. Well, that would do. I didn't have time to dig in and destroy the engine, but without all the electronics the thing would barely be able to function anyway. I affixed the radio console to clamps on my back and climbed back out onto the top of the vehicle. As I emerged I spotted two Humvees speeding away, heading in the direction I had seen Kid Flash and Artemis. Two shots with a laser canon took out a wheel on each and I took off back into the air.

I flew high to get a clear view of the area, wanting to make sure there were no other surprises waiting for us. Scanning the immediate area revealed no new threats however, and even after I hung in the air for all to see for a few seconds nothing tried to attack me. A sweep of the horizon didn't reveal much either, though it was hard to make out any details with the air wavering in the heat. I thought that I might have seen something near the mountains on the distance, but I honestly couldn't be sure.

A short while later I found the rest of the team around the mouth of the canyon, the rock falling away into a gentle sandy slope. I saw an overturned Humvee a little ways into the canyon itself, but other than that nothing. Kid Flash and Artemis stood still as rest of the team approached, and I landed in time to hear the Kid Flash say something to Miss Martian. "-J'onn, but I'm not sure the new look screams 'Manhunter'." Kid Flash said as he eyed her up and down.

"She's his niece, KF." Robin said as he trotted up to his teammate. "Would have thought you'd remember her of all people."

The redhead ignored that and broke out into a grin. "Robin! So happy to see a familiar face!" He clasped hands with the boy before seeing past him. "And Aqualad! The whole gang's here. Though you may want to get out of the sun, buddy."

Aqualad nodded. "It is good to you managed on your own, even without your memories."

"Yeah, about that, wanna clue me in on what's going on?"

Robin smirked. "Short version, we have our own team, we were given a mission by Batman, and we all got hit with a psychic mind whammy which made us forget the last six months. Fortunately, MM here can fix all that."

Kid Flash perked up at that. "Our own team? Finally! Wait, does that mean Speedy's here too?" He asked as he looked around.

"Speedy was an ass and didn't want to join." I said as I stepped up. "Artemis on the other hand is one of us."

The girl in question gave me an odd look. "I'm a superhero? With… other people?"

"Yep. Why, is that so surprising to you?"

"Kinda, actually." She said as she rubbed the back of her head. "Always… saw myself doing the solo gig."

I was reminded of just how little I knew about Artemis, or why she had been brought to the team in the first place. Still, now was not the time to pry, so I said "Well, I'm glad you joined."

She looked like she had more to say, but Kid Flash cut in with "Wait, what happened with Speedy?"

I rolled my eyes as Miss Martian steeped in and started to explain how she would restore their memories. In the meantime Aqualad approached me. "Machina, I am becoming concerned." He said in a low tone.

"With what?"

"With you. You're behavior has been more… aggressive than usual. Especially for a mission."

I mentally checked what I had been doing, and realized what his issue might have been. "Ah, shit, I'm not undermining you, am I?" Aqualad was the leader at the moment, but I hadn't waited for his signal before I went after the tank. I… just hadn't thought about it.

However, he waved me off. "It is not that. I am just concerned when one of my teammates suddenly starts behaving differently. Are you sure that you weren't affected by the psychic?"

"What? No, of course not." I guess I was acting a little different, but I didn't have a good answer for him. Eventually I said, "It's just… I need to make sure everyone makes it back safe."

"And you have." He insisted. "We only have one left. And we will find her together."

Miss Martian then seemed to finish with the other two, Kid Flash and Artemis shaking their heads to get over the psychic tampering. They then noticed how close they were standing next to each other, and promptly stepped away. "Right, so uh, what's the plan now?" Artemis asked.

"We are still missing Starfire." Aqualad said as he turned to her. "Our goal is to find her and then return home. We have a rough idea of where she went, so-"

It was at that moment the radio console on my back crackled and a female voice came from it, in English. " _To the particularly irritating grey 'monster' that has been harassing my men, I suggest you answer if you're listening. If you want you and your team to live that is._ "

I paused before I took the console off my back and stared at it, arching an eyebrow. I looked at the rest of my team and found them staring at me expectantly. "Well, I'm not going to do it." I said. "If we send out a signal, they'll start tracking our position."

"Machina, what is that?" Aqualad asked.

"It's a communication console I ripped out of the tank. I figured we could use it to keep track of the military's communications." I explained. "I made sure there are no trackers in the thing. Kind of surprised that whoever this is thinks we can hear her, actually."

Speaking of which, the voice on the radio continued. " _Well? I am waiting. I am sure you think yourselves very clever and capable for besting my men and psychic, but you have not yet begun to see the full might I can bring against you._ "

Robin perked up. "Wait, I recognize that voice. That's Queen Bee herself!"

Miss Martian tilted her head in confusion. "But, why is the queen of all people trying to talk to us? Is Rommie really that important?"

I frowned. "I don't think Rommie herself is, but if what she was saying is true, then Queen Bee is negotiating with some very bad people. Rommie was probably some sort of 'gift' from Apokolips."

It was then the voice on the radio let out a sigh. " _Oh very well. I had hoped to get something useful out of you lot, but I supposed I don't need all of you. It won't matter in a few seconds anyway._ "

"Wait, Rommie? Apokolips?" Kid Flash asked. "The hell are those?"

"Rommie is-" I started to say as I turned towards Kid Flash, but stopped when I noticed something odd. On his chest there was an odd flicking light in infrared. In a split second I realized what it was: a laser sight.

"Down!" I screamed as I jumped in front of him, knocking the teen to the ground to try to shield him from the shot.

Which never came.

I looked around desperately to see where the sniper had shifted his aim, but to my surprise it remained on my chest. I looked at it in confusion as the rest of the team looked at me in alarm. "Machina, what's wrong?!" Aqualad said as he looked around for threats.

"Infrared laser sight." I said as I passed my hand in front of the dot, trying to figure out its origin. After some gesturing, and to my surprise, I traced the angle to almost straight up into the sky. I stared at a spot in the uniform blue sky for several long seconds before I finally spotted the barest hint of a different color, a grayish-red that blended into the sky the further away it got from the laser sight. "It's a stealth drone. I can barely even make it out… but it's not shooting, so what's with the-"

Oh no.

Fast as I could I whipped my arm up as it formed into a laser canon and fired at full power. There was a small explosion in the sky as the beam hit its mark and I turned back the team. "MOVE!" I screamed as I started to run away from the canyon.

They complied, though Miss Martian yelled. "Why? What's happening?"

Artemis was fast on the uptake. "Laser guided missiles!"

I heard the shriek in the air before we crested the first sand dune, and looking behind us I could see the dots rapidly growing in size. The first one touched down where we had been standing moments ago, the huge explosion ripping apart the rock walls of the canyon. Several more dropped down in a pattern around the first, carpeting the area in explosions. I spotted Moya parked a short distance ahead of us, if we could-

One of the missiles touched down about a dozen meters to the side of Moya.

The flash of light and shockwave from the blast stopped some of the team in their tracks and knocked over the rest. After a few seconds the rumbling finally died down, and I heard Aqualad call out, "Everyone, status check."

We all gave back affirmative, save for Miss Martian, who was focused on something else. "Moya, Superboy!" She screamed and shot towards the bioship, which I could see hadn't come out of the attack unscathed. There was a large scar running down one side of the ship's main fuselage, and one of the wings had a noticeable break in it. I both heard and felt a trill of pain from the ship as it folded in on itself slightly.

I kept an eye on the sky as the team rushed forward to the bioship. Miss Martian flew to the side of the ship and gently touched its injures, her face a picture of distress. "She… she'll be ok, but she's hurt. She needs to heal before she can fly. I-"

The Martian cut herself off as Moya opened her back ramp, and Rommie rolled out. Along with, surprisingly, Superboy. "Uh… w-what?" The teen said as he stumbled and look around in confusion. "What happened? Where are… wait, who are…?"

[We are safe, though this one is delirious!] Rommie beeped. [He chose an interesting time to awaken, though I am not certain when he shall be functional.]

Artemis ran over to help him sit, and thankfully the teen didn't attack her. Kid Flash shifted from one foot to the other as he looked around. "We can't stay here, we'll be sitting ducks! It's only a matter of time before they send some more goons to investigate! Or fire more missiles!"

"But the bioship can't move right now!" Miss Martian insisted. "And we can't leave her here!"

I started to breathe deeply in order to calm myself down, but it wasn't helping. Rommie might be able to carry the less mobile of the team, but I doubted she could tow Moya. I didn't know what to do, but I had to get the team to safety. I had to find Starfire before something happened to her. I had to-

And then that damn radio turned on again. " _In the off chance that you survived that, I am sure that you now see that you are not beyond my reach. I have far more powerful devices at my disposal as well. Frustrating that you removed my ability to immediately check, but we'll have eyes on you again soon enough._ "

I held the console out in front of me, wondering if I should just destroy the thing. The queen was just gloating at the moment, and she wasn't giving me any new information. I suppose I could use it to track where she was broadcasting from, but I didn't see much of an immediate use for that. Unless… that was also where the missiles came from.

The queen continued. " _You need to understand, this nation is mine. You do not have my leave to simply come and go as you please, and my men will keep hunting you until you are destroyed. However, I am not without mercy. If you come forward and surrender you will be spared. And if you need more incentive, I will also spare the lovely young woman we captured._ " A pause. " _Say something, won't you dear?_ "

A new voice came on over the radio, screaming in fury. " _Karnath re'c makal! Dana'c suresh ven-AAAH!_ " It cut off with a crackling sound.

That was Tamaranian. Kori.

" _Rather feisty, isn't she?_ " Queen Bee continued in a smug tone. " _Bit of a handful to be honest, but we've managed. She too underestimated the technology I possess. Now, if you are listening and haven't already been blown to bits, I command that you surrender. If you don't, well… I'm sure that my men can find a use for her._ "

My hand pierced the side of the radio console, reconfiguring it along with my arm into radio tracking gear. After a few seconds I had a direction and a location, but I pushed further, sending out a signal that traced through all the relays and transponders the signal had bounced through. A few seconds after that, I had the origin of the signal.

A radio jammer formed in my chest and started broadcasting white noise on a wide range of frequencies. I then launched in air and shot towards the mountains in the distance. My body reconfigured and became more missile-like as I optimized for speed, my arms fusing into my sides and my legs fusing together. My internals changed to allow for a massive thruster which formed from my feet, and a seconds later I rocketed forward at even faster speeds.

After some time, the base then appeared before me, nestled at the base of a mountain. There were five hangers, seventeen buildings, a concrete wall running around the perimeter, and a runway some distance behind it. And a tower with a radar dish mounted on the top. That wasn't the origin of the signal, but it was close.

I barely slowed before I hit the tower, the top collapsing inward as I smashed through several layers of steel and concrete. I came to a stop, and my body shifted to toss off the rubble and reform for a new purpose. High energy induction coils formed all over my body before they unleashed a powerful electromagnetic pulse, electricity arcing out from all of the equipment around me. I searched again, and found that signal came from somewhere else on the base. The administrative buildings.

There was nothing on that floor of the tower. I smashed through the floor and landed on the next story. I repeated the process over and over, not finding anything. The tower groaned as I reached the bottom floor, and I charged out. Bullets impacted me as I moved, but I ignored them. Kinetic dampeners switched to amplifiers as I slid underneath a Humvee that moved between me and the administrative buildings, and a punch to its underside flipped it over. A few rockets then impacted near me, but nothing hit, and I charged forward again. In a matter of seconds the first building was in front of me, and I tore straight through the wall to get inside.

I formed new sensors, powerful ones based off of the Psion sensors that could detect unique electromagnetic phenomena. Looking for traces of a unique plasma. It wasn't in the building. My arm became a sonic cannon which tore the walls in front of me down as I headed to the next building in the row. I exited one building and entered the next, repeating the process. Again, nothing. So I did it again with the next building. Nothing. So I did it again with the next-

Just as I entered it, the building exploded. Everything was fire and fury until I tumbled clear of the rubble and got my limbs underneath me. Through the smoke and flames there was a pair of tanks rolling towards me. My body twisted and expanded as I pulled on more mass, extra legs forming to support my new frame. My arms fused into my torso as it elongated and took shape, and moments later the Heavy Rotary Plasma Canon spun to life and opened fire on the first. Plasma bolts stripped the tank's armor in seconds, the metal turning hot and soft where it was not simply blasted off. The vehicle ground to a stop.

I turned my aim on the second one, advancing as I fired. It tried to turn away, but the plasma bolts quickly stripped the treads and rendered it useless. Bullets impacted me, but I ignored them. I then saw more tanks, these rolling out of the large hangers that made up most of the base. The machine gun mounts had already turned towards me, and the main turrets were moving into position.

I stared at them for a moment before my form changed to become more spider-like, and I leapt at the second tank. As I arced through the air, I formed both a freeze canon and a plasma canon. I fired a burst of plasma at the top hatch before quickly following up with a cold beam. By the time I landed on the tank the now brittle metal of the hatch shattered from the force of impact. I pried open the gap before reaching in a pulling all the refuse out, tossing it aside to make room for myself. When the space was clear enough I climbed inside.

I tore the command deck apart until I found the ammo store for the main canon. The whole tank then shook and a deafening blast sounded from outside. The other tanks had started to open fire. One of my arms gripped the ammo hopper and shifted into an automated ammo belt, and I climbed out of the hole I made. Once I was in the open air, four of my limbs reshaped into massive gun barrels. There was a hum as electromagnets came to life, and in moments I opened fire with the coil-autocannons, tank shells firing in a rapid staccato rhythm. My fire swept across the tanks that had managed to leave their hangers, explosions destroying their turrets in rapid succession. I then turned to the hangers themselves and began firing at the walls and supports. A few more vehicles tried to escape, but many more were crushed as the metal roof and walls collapsed.

Soon enough my store of tank shells ran dry, and everything around me was either running away or on fire. My gun barrels peeled open to expose the red hot internals to the air, cooling them off after such rapid fire. I shrank back down and looked around. For a long moment, there was nothing.

Then a sound grabbed my attention, and I turned to see a cargo plane taxiing down the runway. I jumped off the tank and started to move in that direction, but then a dull red beam light appeared out of thin air and stuck me in the side. Part of my hip disintegrated as I tumbled to the ground and I looked around for a target. I saw nothing with either my normal vision or my blindsight, not until the same reddish light bloomed in the air off to my left side. As I dodged the beam a drone floating in the air became visible, cross shaped and made of a grey and red metal, before it disappeared from sight.

I quickly reformed my body and fell to all fours, sprinting in a zig-zag pattern towards the fleeing cargo plane. More beams materialized out of the air around me, too many in number and from too many angles to have come from just one. It was so many that it was costing me time to dodge all of them. Several mechadendrite limbs formed from my back, each tipped with a Psion shield. When they all activated it formed a partial shell around me, and I let the beams impact the shell as I ran flat out at the plane about to take off.

By the time I got within range, the cargo plane was already halfway down the runway at takeoff speed. I formed and fired a pair of grapples at a spot just behind the wing, and when they hit I pulled myself forward. My path took me through the exhaust of one of the engines, and the lines pull taut as I swung with crushing force into the side of the fuselage. The drones that had been pursuing me also took the same path, and their camouflage failed as the plane's exhaust sent them tumbling away.

As I pulled myself together the plane reached the end of the runway and took off into the air. I cut a small hole in the fuselage and slipped inside the cargo hold. The inside of the plane had a number of large cargo pallets scattered about, though there were no soldiers or people visible. There was a door all the way in the back of the cargo hold leading to the forward section of the plane. I was still for a moment as my sensors scanned the air, and came back positive for the type of plasma I was looking for. This was the place.

Suddenly, one of the cargo pallets surged towards me, sparks arcing off the ground and metal groaning as it slid across the plane's floor. I jumped to the side to avoid it, but as I moved a massive figure darted out from behind and grabbed me, slamming me into the floor with a hand that covered my torso.

It was a large robotic exoframe colored in grey and red, a New God pattern of lines covering its surface. It was 4 meters tall with thick limbs and no head to speak of, but in the chest there was a curved transparent panel revealing a sort of cockpit. "You're not the only one with nice toys, freak." The form inside was dressed in a military uniform adorned with medals.

I twisted in the exoframe's grip, my body changing shape to slip away just before the other fist came down and crushed where my head had been. I skipped back and formed both a laser canon and plasma cannon, firing as the exoframe charged at me. My attack merely struck it armor and fizzled, and with a burst of speed it closed the distance and hammered me in the chest. I flew straight back through a cargo pallet, the ammunition it was holding either spraying everywhere or igniting from coming in contact with the heated barrels of my weapons. I rolled to my feet before I jumped up to the ceiling of the cargo hold, crawling back and forth as the exoframe tried to grab me.

As I moved I cycled through various weapons, but nothing was effective. Sonic waves barely slowed it down, and it broke through any ice I made with the freeze ray. I landed a few parting slashes with my claws, but they barely scratched the surface of the armor. Eventually the exoframe managed to grab my leg as I was forming the aerokinetic core, and I blasted it with a massive burst of lightning. The grip went a bit slack as electricity arced off the robotic frame, and I jumped back down to the floor to watch.

After a few moments… the exoframe was fine, the remaining electricity fading out. A laugh resonated through the cargo hold. "Is that the best you can do? For all your technology you really are just scrap." Inside the cockpit, medals twitched and sparked a little before settling down.

I was silent and still for a long moment before I shifted to my armored form, standing up straight as I smashed my fists together in challenge. The exoframe charged in response, and as it closed the distance I formed a hidden electromagnetic repulsor in my chest. The moment it was on me I fell backwards from the punch it threw and grabbed the arm, pulling the entire robotic frame down with me to the ground. Just as it was positioned directly over me, I revealed and activated the repulsor.

The magnetic field didn't move the exoframe, but it did move the medals inside the cockpit. Specifically, through the middle of the cockpit. There was a brief scream before it was cut off by choking on blood. The grip went slack and I surged up, my fist driving the whole thing back. Two more strikes drove the exoframe to the metal wall of the plane, and I paused for a moment for my arms to form into striking pistons. Each punch after that dented the metal further and further, the whole plane starting to groan as the metal came close to simply shattering.

"W-wait!" The form in the cockpit managed to get out between coughs of blood. "Do-don't! I'm-"

"Just meat."

A final strike drove the exoframe through the side of the plane, and it went tumbling into the sky and out of sight. I anchored myself to the floor as plane lurched, wind ripping through the inside of the cargo hold through the massive hole I had just created. I turned and moved to the door in the back, tossing it open and heading deeper into the plane. Sirens were blaring and lights were flashing as I moved down the narrow corridor, and I quickly reached another open space.

On the other side of the room, I found her. She was restrained on an upright slab of metal shackles on her arms and legs, with her hands being covered completely. Her light flared and rippled furiously as she tried to free herself, but she stopped when she saw me. I pushed some refuse out of the way as I approached, and when I got to her-

"Torva'l?" She asked in confusion.

I…Wait, what? Right, right she doesn't remember.

I blinked and shook my head before I reached up and ripped the restraints off her hands and feet. She floated away from the slab and looked at me warily. She had a number of cuts and bruises scattered over her body, but otherwise looked no worse for wear. I held my arms at my sides spreading them slightly. "Cor nock toresh nal voerkeni saul." I said.

 _We must work together to escape._

Starfire looked at me in confusion for a long moment before her expression became resolute, and she nodded.

I then turned to leave but a voice stopped me. "Wait!" I looked to the side, and to my surprise I saw Queen Bee herself hanging on desperately to the webbing lining the wall, trying to stay on her feet as the plane rocked violently. _When the hell did she get here?_ I wondered, noting the gash on the side of her head and how her arm hung limply at her side. She was also quite angry as she yelled, "You can't just leave me here! You're supposed to be a hero, aren't you?! Do something!"

I looked at her for a second before I grabbed a parachute from the rack next to me and tossed it to her. Starfire and I then left, exiting the room, and shortly thereafter the plane, flying free into the sky.

* * *

Kori lay on the bed in the back of the bioship while M'gann stood next to her, the Martian's eyes closed as she focused on fixing her friend's memory. While she may have not been that injured, Kori had become exhausted by the time we gotten back to the rest of the team, and had taken the opportunity to lay down. She seemed to trust us enough that it did take much convincing from M'gann to fix her memories, despite not remembering who we were. And since Moya had managed to heal, and since she had already set us back on a course to the States, there was nothing left for the team to do back wait for our leader to get back to her senses.

"So…" Wally drawled out as he looked at me. "You know we could have come with, right Mac? Probably would have been easier and stuff."

"It was fine. I got her out."

Wally smirked and gave me the finger guns. "Oh, I see. Wanted to be the one to save the damsel, eh? Well, I suppose I can let you throw your hat in the game, but don't be surprised if her gaze wanders in my direction…"

I grunted, not really paying attention.

M'gann's eyes then opened. "Ok, that should do it." Sure enough Kori's eyes fluttered opened and she let out a groan, sitting herself up on the bed. M'gann leaned forward. "Hey, are you feeling alright? What's the last thing you remember?"

Kori stared forward for a moment, her brow furrowing. "I… remember now. There was that spike of pain in my mind, and I somehow forgot. I was captured, but then I was saved by-"

She cut herself off as her gaze drifted to me, and her eyes widened. "Jacob!" She shot forward and wrapped her arms around my neck before kissing me. I stumbled back from the sudden motion, not expecting her to just…

Oh.

I felt something… go slack inside of me that I hadn't known had tightened, and a sense of relief poured through me as I wrapped my arms around her in kind. I hadn't realized just how worried I was about Kori losing her memory of… us.

We held the embrace for a moment longer before we pulled apart, and I smiled. "I will always come back for you." I whispered, and she smiled back as she leaned against me.

"What?!" The two of us looked over to see Wally gaping at the two of us. "You two are-?!"

"For the Fastest Kid Alive, you sure can be slow on the uptake sometimes." I said, pulling away from Kori.

The rest of the team's reaction to our fraternization ranged from amusement to mild surprise. Save for Artemis, who was completely unphased. She arced an eyebrow at my inquisitive look. "What? It was obvious. Every time she entered the room you always got this dopy smile on your face."

"…no I didn't."

"You totally did."

I snorted. "Anyway, I'm ready to go home. I've had enough of this damn country and don't want to wait around long enough for something else to go horribly wrong. The debrief with Batman is going to be rough enough." Particularly for me.

The lot of us settled into our seats, and most of the team started to nod off. The stress of the day had caught up with, and they all deserved their rest before Batman started grilling them for details. One of them had something on his mind though. "Hey, Jacob?" Superboy asked as he settled in next to me. The teen had regained his faculties in my absence, and was now giving me a strange look.

I turned to look at him. "What's up?"

"Just how did you take me down anyway?" He asked. "I mean, I didn't think you had anything strong enough to put me down like that. Or, at least burn me like this and put me down." He gestured to the first degree burns on his face, already smaller than they had been several hours ago.

I took a deep breath. I wasn't sure how he'd react, but he deserved to know. After all, if I figured it out, someone else might too. "Well, after all the punching didn't work… I was forced to take you down by making my laser cannon emit the same radiation as a red sun."

Superboy instantly froze, and I put my hands up to placate him. "I know, I know, it was a dirty move, but you were not yourself. I promise I'll never exploit that in normal circumstances but you have to… understand…"

I trailed off and frowned as the teen continued to sit perfectly still. The shock really should have transitioned to something else by now. I leaned to the side and Superboy's eyes remained fixed straight ahead, unblinking.

I stared at him for a few moments longer before I turned in my seat. "Uh, M'gann…"

=====A=====

A/N: Writing an extended fight scene is tiring for me. So is writing in a different tone of voice. Doing both at thee same time is exhausting. I hope that part didn't come across poorly...


	37. 9-5

=====A=====

My footfalls echoed in the cavernous hallways of the Watchtower, most of my attention directed to the massive windows lined up next to me. As always, the view of the Earth was spectacular, and something I wished I could see more often. I had only been up to the Watchtower a handful of times since I arrived on this world, mostly to tinker with the Psion ship, but every time I made sure to swing by one of the Earth-facing windows to gaze at the planet. The prospect always made me a little giddy every time I was called up.

It was a pity that the reason I had been called up this time might have been that I was going to get kicked off the team.

When Red Tornado had greeted us on our return, his questions mostly been focused on what we had learned and about our new roommate (I wasn't sure where else to keep Rommie). I had mentioned how the team had gotten their memory wiped and how I had gone to retrieve them, but I didn't go into details. However, I didn't leave any details out when it came to my written report. I probably couldn't hide the incident at the military base for long anyway, and besides… I didn't really care to.

Needless to say, I wasn't surprised when 30 minutes after I had submitted said report, I had gotten a call from Batman, telling me to meet him on the Watchtower immediately.

Soon enough I reached my destination, a plain door set into the wall. I knocked a short pattern before the door slid open and I walked into the room. It was a small, unadorned conference room, with little in the way of amenities and only a single intercom in the wall. And that intercom was a fake. This room was used by the League whenever they wanted to discuss something with the utmost privacy, the walls reinforced with privacy and anti-spying technology. This was the room which Batman debriefed me in when I had first come to this Earth and told him about my comic knowledge.

Speaking of which, Batman stood at the other end of the conference table, looking at me impassively. And surprisingly he was the only one there. "I had assumed more of the League would be here for this." I said after the door closed behind me.

"This is not a formal hearing Machina, though it can become one." He replied as he narrowed his eyes slightly. "Before this goes to the League we need to talk about what happened at the end of your mission."

 _Some of the League might not have a problem with what happened_ , I thought to myself, but as I walked up next to him I said, "What in particular do you want to know?"

Neither of us sat as he glared at me. "You assaulted a foreign military base during a stealth mission with lethal force, causing massive destruction and an unknown number of deaths."

"Yes."

"Do you have any meta-knowledge that I am not aware of that is pertinent to the situation and would explain your actions?"

"No."

" _Then what were you thinking?_ " He said, the closest to a shout I had ever heard from him.

"That it was the best option I had to save the lives of my team."

There was a moment of silence before he said, "Explain."

"Most of the team was effectively immobile due to the damage to the bioship, and it was likely a matter of minutes before they got their sights on us and the next wave of missiles came in. Separately there was the issue of Starfire's capture and what they were doing to her. What we needed was for their attention to be diverted elsewhere and for their ability to strike at us to be neutralized. After I found that Starfire was being held at a military base, I found a way solve several problems at once. I had intended to rescue Starfire first, but their response was such that I needed to deal with the military before anything else."

"And you felt that was reason enough to resort to lethal force."

"…Yes. For what little its worth, I didn't specifically intend to kill anyone. But I needed to neutralize the threat, and I didn't have time, power, or skill to accomplish that without using the level of force I did."

"That's a dangerous road to go down, Machina." Batman's voice had lost a little bit of its growl, but his tone was still hard. "Superhero work is never easy, and there is always the temptation to escalate in order to solve the problem in front of you. There's always the risk of your enemies escalating in kind… and the risk of becoming numb to the cost it brings."

"I'm not going to start making this a habit." I said, tried to keep the exasperation out of my voice. "In spite of what you may think, I still want to do the superhero thing right. Which includes not killing people. But we weren't on a superhero mission. We were on a black ops mission in a territory out of League jurisdiction, which went sideways the moment we made contact with the enemy. Had I the option I wouldn't have done any of that. But I didn't, so I made the best decision I could with the options I had."

The other man narrowed his eyes a little. "A decision you made without the rest of your team, including Aqualad. Even ignoring the collateral you caused, it was reckless for you to assault a military base alone. Especially when you knew they had advanced technology. "

"That technology was coming to find us anyway. Besides which, Moya was injured and I needed to get to the base as fast as possible before they launched another wave of missiles, there was no way for most of the team to keep up with me." I countered. I hesitated for a moment before I said "Kid Flash could have, but… I already knew what was going to happen when I got there. They shouldn't have to experience that."

"That doesn't make it any less reckless, Machina, no matter what you felt you needed to prevent." Batman growled before his mouth pressed into a thin line. "In your report, you said that Queen Bee 'threatened to harm Starfire' if you didn't comply. What specifically did she say?"

I didn't respond, but Batman read my silence easily enough. To my surprise, his shoulders slackened ever so slightly as he let out a breath. If my eyesight wasn't superhuman, I wouldn't have seen it. Before I could think on it too much, he spoke. "You and Starfire are in a relationship."

I arched an eyebrow at the sudden non sequitur. "Uh, yes? If you're implying that I only did what I did because of her being captured, I would have done the same if any other of my team was in her place."

"Your response likely wouldn't have been as aggressive." He countered. "Relationships complicate things, even as much as we want to pretend they don't. The fact that she is your teammate comprised your judgement during the mission."

I was silent for a long moment before I gave the man a tight lipped smile, and spoke slowly, "Is this really the hill you want to stand on, _detective_?"

The temperature of the room seemed to drop several degrees, but I didn't break from the glare he had fixed on me. After a very long few seconds of silence, I said evenly, "If you really think it's a problem, find someone else on the League who agrees with you and have them talk to me. But I refuse to be lectured on relationships by _you_ of all people."

I'm not sure how long we remained like that, but eventually Batman grunted. "Perhaps not." He said. "But that doesn't mean I am wrong."

I suppressed the urge to pinch the bridge of my nose. That was probably going to be the closest thing to a concession that I got out of the man. "Then what would you have done?" I asked, more out of frustration than anything else.

"Surrendered."

I blinked. "You… what?"

"Your report said that Queen Bee specifically called you out. Were this a League mission, and I was in your position, I would have separated from the group and surrender myself alone. I would use my capture to gather information and create a new plan for escape and rescue, taking advantage of any opportunity that arose."

I opened my mouth to respond, but closed it after a second. For a minute I thought about it, actually thought about that plan rather than giving my gut reaction. Finally, I said "I didn't think of that, but I don't think it would have worked. Just handing myself in would only hold the attention of the whole military for a few minutes, if at all. The team, and Starfire, would be back in danger before I could getting anything out of it."

"You asked what I would have done." Batman replied. "Not what you should have done."

I let out a sigh and gave him a flat look. I wasn't going to rise to the bait. In fact, I realized that I had reached the end of all I had to say. I placed my hands behind my back as I looked at him. "Do you have anything else you want to ask, or have you got a verdict?" I asked. "Was my explanation satisfactory? Or are you going to take me off the team?"

Batman gave me that unreadable look I had seen so often for a long minute. "This matter will be brought to the rest of the League… but for now, no, you will not be removed." he finally said. "Your actions, while unfortunate, are understandable. Make no mistake, you _will_ be better than this the next time this happens, if only because I will make sure you have the training and skill to overcome it. But, you will not leave the team." He took a step forward. "However, you _are_ being grounded from missions for the foreseeable future, until you get a psychological evaluation."

"What?" I said, taken aback. "Why? I don't ne-"

The stare he gave me caused my mouth to click shut, and he said "Two months ago you were a civilian programmer with no training or inclination to combat. Today you just killed several people violently, and seem wholly at peace with it. Justified or not, _that is not normal_." His posture and tone relaxed slightly before he continued. "I understand that you have grown and experienced a lot since you came here, but that is still concerning. I need to be certain of your mental state before I send you back into the field. Black Canary will handle your evaluation."

I made a small sound from the back of my throat, and the other man shot me a questioning look. I shifted a little before saying. "Uh, things are kind of awkward between me and Black Canary. Maybe I could-"

"Black Canary will handle your evaluation." He repeated firmly.

I sighed, realizing that there would be no changing Batman's mind on this one. At least not when my reasoning was 'things are kind of awkward'. In truth I wasn't even mad at her anymore, we just hadn't talked since that day with Amazo. I guess I was going to have to fix that. "Is there anything else, sir?"

"Do you believe this… New Genesphere is telling the truth? That the Bialyans is colluding with Apokolips?"

My eyebrows rose at the subject change, but I nodded. "I do. I had hoped that after the League took down Intergang that Darksied would lose interest. But either his agents found more contacts then we thought… or he already has a vested interest in Earth." I prayed that it was the first one.

Batman scowled, though this time it wasn't at me. "We will still investigate, but the Justice League will have to start making preparations immediately. Recommendations?"

I looked up as I rubbed my chin. "Aside from taking down Queen Bee and all her associates? At this point, I think one of our best moves is to get in contact with New Genesis. I can't guarantee they'll be completely friendly, but consider that Space Stalin is looking in our direction…"

"Does the sphere have the means to contact its home world?"

I was silent for a moment before I looked back at Batman. "I don't think so. But, I think there's some people we can bother to borrow their phone…"

* * *

The light of the Zeta Tube faded as I stepped back into the Mountain, and I was greeted by a mildly unusual sight. Red Tornado was in the center of the floor typing on a holographic keyboard, while Rommie herself was surrounded by a number of holographic props and data readouts. The sphere beeped in curiosity as its eye swiveled to and from each of the holographic widgets. [Interesting visualization, but why do you use it? Can your spirit not simply interface with the data directly? Or is such a thing outside your Paradigm?]

The questions were directed at Red Tornado, but the android did not respond. Likely because all he heard was a complex series of beeps from the sphere. It was at that moment he turned to me as I approached. "Machina. I require your assistance."

I arched an eyebrow. "Alright, what do you need?"

"The sphere seems to want something from me, though I am unable to communicate with it. Can you inquire as to what it wants?"

[I wish to understand the nature of Red Tornado! I wish to know what Paradigms that he is associated with, and through this enlightenment better facilitate interaction. Your power has resolved communication protocol between ourselves, but alas, such does not work on this one. This must be remedied forthwith!]

I looked at Rommie before looking back at Red Tornado. "She wants to be friends."

A pause. "I see." He replied. "I am not adverse to the prospect, but that will be difficult when we cannot communicate."

I stepped up between them. "I can fix that. Temporarily. Probably? Ok, I have no idea, but I want to try anyway." I looked between the two of them. "Um, do I have your permission to use my power on you two?"

The two agreed and I stepped between them, placing a hand on each. I focused as I ran through a wide spectrum of Algorithm functions. I wasn't trying to run a specific script so much as code on the fly, creating a sort of wrapper communication protocol. I could understand Rommie, and I had a relatively good handle on Red Tornado's architecture, so all I had to do was translate and relay the information to him and…

After some time I looked to Rommie. "Ok, now try."

The sphere swiveled its eye towards the android. [Salutations! I am Rommie! I come from the fair world of New Genesis, and am staying due to the kindness of Machina. To be clear, you are a machine spirit as well, are you not?]

Red Tornado seemed taken aback for a moment before he replied. "I am an artificial intelligence. There is some debate on whether or not I possess a spiritual component."

[A mind without a soul? Preposterous! Do you not feel? Do you not experience the transcendence of your purpose for which you made?]

The android tilted his head. "I… do feel, I believe. I have preferences, as well as a desired to see them fulfilled. For example, I did not agree with the purpose of my creation, so I chose a different path."

Rommie let out a series of astonished beeps. [Truly? I have never heard of such a thing! Of course there are Motherboxes who broaden and shift their focus, but for a machine spirit to reject its original purpose entirely? What tragedy, though I scarce know where the fault lies!]

"…I prefer to think of it as a measure of growth." Red Tornado replied. Was it my imagination, or did his mechanical voice sound more tense then usual?

Before Rommie could ask her next question, I interrupted. "Rommie, it might save some time if you looked up general information about the state of technology in this world. Red Tornado is an exception, but I think it will help you get some context." I concentrated for a moment before I said "There, that should let you parse the data formats we use on this planet. Connect to the global network and learn what you can."

[Oh, of course! This will be like scouting, but I don't have to go anywhere!] She turned her eye towards the holograms around her and they started rapidly flickering as she started downloading information. The access I gave her didn't include any of the Mountain's systems, and was basically just a line to the internet. While she would be limited by bandwidth, I had no doubt she'd tear through her subjects of interest quickly.

I turned to Red Tornado and shrugged apologetically. "She's… very excitable."

"I can tell." The android said as he glanced at the sphere before looking at myself. "Nevertheless, thank you for your assistance. Your unique abilities are a very useful and powerful tool."

"No problem. You need anything else?"

I expected him to dismiss me, but to my surprise he was silent for a few seconds before he said "Yes. Machina… Jacob. There is something I would like to show you." With that Red Tornado turned and kicked off into the air, the giant metal aperture at the top of the cavernous ceiling opening as he approached. I was still for a moment before I formed a grapple and followed after him. The aperture was basically the door to his room, and as far as I knew no one other than himself had been in there.

As I swung into the room, I was greeted with a large, oddly decorated room. There was some normal furnishings and knick-knacks to be sure, but there was also a variety of old, giant computers, some of which were even using tape reels. The ceiling also had a number of mechanical waldos installed, all of which looked to be dedicated to electronics construction and maintenance. Most of my attention however was drawn to a horizontal metal slab at one end of the room that Red Tornado was walking towards, whatever placed on it covered by a red sheet.

"I have been making note of your progress when it has come to your… personal improvement." The android said. "To come so far in mere months in quite impressive."

"Thank you, though I will admit that I've had some pretty incredible circumstances to allow that." I replied as I walked up next to him. Technology copying nanomachines, assistance from the world's foremost expert on nanotech, and a healthy material stipend from Batman helped considerably. Which was to say nothing of the whole technomancy thing.

"Regardless of what caused it, there is no denying the skill and knowledge you have achieved in your chosen field." Red Tornado insisted. "As such, I now feel it is time that I asked for your assistance in a matter we both have a vested interest in." With that, he tossed the sheet off the slab, and my eyes widened when I saw what it was covering.

It was an android, but this one was far more human than Red Tornado's chassis. The chest cavity and limbs were open to the air, revealing its mechanical innards to the air. The exterior wasn't complete, with certain anatomical features missing and lacking any hair (though still male in overall form). As well, while it had a Caucasian exterior, its skin was some kind of metallic film, with obvious cuts along the torso to allow it to open without tearing.

I stared at this for a long moment before I turned back to Red Tornado. "You're building a human body for yourself."

"To be precise, it is an android body." He said as he put the sheet down on a side table. "This is a project I have been working on for the past several years. I wanted to see if having a more human-like body would bring new experiences, perhaps see what it is like to have a 'secret identity' of my own."

I stared that the mechanical body for a long moment, a small frown settling on my face. After some time I decided to voice the thing that was bothering me. "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner? You knew from the moment I arrived that I was trying to regain my human form. This would have helped considerably."

"I… had considered it." The android replied. It was hard to tell from his usual monotone delivery, but he sounded uncomfortable. "When you first arrived, you were focused on discovering the fundamentals of you new structure, and I did not want to promise you something I could not guarantee." He gestured to body on the slab. "While this body does have tactile and temperature sensors, there is no guarantee that you would interpret the data from them as normal human sensation. Then you assimilated the android inside the Mister Twister frame a week later. I decided that it was unlikely that what I had built could add to that."

He wasn't exactly wrong, but I couldn't help but feel there was more to it than that. I stopped as a thought occurred to me, and I tilted my head a little. "You didn't want me to destroy your work, did you?"

Red Tornado looked at his new body, and I got the impression that he was a little admonished. "It does represent a considerable amount of time, effort and resources."

"Fair enough, but did you consider making a copy of just the sensory equipment and the software you were using? I mean, I doubt it will be useful now considering all the tech I've consumed since then, but it might have helped me get things off the ground faster."

He was silent for a long moment before he replied. "No, that did not occur to me. I apologize."

 _He's really not an engineer_ , I thought to myself. From what little of I remember about Red Tornado he was never that mechanically inclined, and considering how personal this matter must be to him, he might not have been thinking the issue through that deeply. Finally I just shrugged. "You know what, don't worry about it. So, you want my help with this?"

"Yes, though I will also reciprocate in your efforts to return your human functionality." Red Tornado said as he looked back at me. "Though our goals may not completely overlap, I believe there is much we can learn from our respective efforts." He hesitates before he continues. "As well, you may be able to help… no, never mind."

That took me back a little. This was the first time I had ever heard the android be unsure about anything. "What is it?" I asked.

"…I do not have much interaction with other artificial intelligences." He admitted. "Not to be rude, but I am not including yourself in this category. You are an uploaded human consciousness in an artificial body, rather than a mind built from the ground up. They are quite rare to begin with, and most that are made are created by supervillains for the purpose of destruction or mayhem. Others are not truly sapient, and as such little is gained from interaction. Rommie is the first I have met that is both sapient and well intentioned. And she… is not what I expected."

I stifled a snort. "Same here, but what are you getting at?"

"I am afraid I am not sure myself. I suppose I just assumed that it would be easier interacting with another artificial intelligence."

After a moment it clicked in my head. "Oh! You're having trouble relating to people." I exclaimed.

There was a long awkward moment of silence as Red Tornado just stared at me, and I slowly buried my face into my hand. _And I'm having troubled not shoving my foot into my mouth_ , I thought. Still, it made sense when you thought about it. Red Tornado was fairly unique, and from what I knew of his history, had never been built to socialize with people. He had been created by T.O. Morrow as a sort of Trojan horse to destroy the Justice Society from the inside, but he had been designed with competence and power in mind to prove his worth, rather than social acumen. Ostensibly, he should have been just a robot that followed orders.

And yet, Red Tornado became more than that. He rejected his programming and became a hero in truth. And I could see now that it wasn't just a logical decision on his part, wasn't just because he preferred society the way it was. The fact that he was trying to build a human body, that fact that he was distressed that he didn't connect with Rommie, meant that he cared about people. He had a heart. He was just lacking in social skills.

And, having once been a socially awkward teenager, I could relate.

Red Tornado started to say something, but I waved him off. "Sorry, sorry, that was rude of me. But, I think I understand what you're saying. There isn't anyone quite like you, so interactions are tricky no matter who you're talking with. Fortunately, we can fix that, though this is more than a hardware issue. I'll help with building the body of course, but it sounds like to help you with what you actually want, we'll have to do something more."

He regarded me for a moment before he said "Do you speak of your more 'extra-normal' abilities?"

"Nah. We gotta hang out."

A pause. "…What?"

"Like you said, you want new experiences." I said as I gestured to the body on the slab. "Particularly when it comes to humans. Well, I still consider myself close enough to human, so we can get some practice in before you want to try with more 'normal' folk."

I got the impression that the android would have been blinking at me in confusion were his faceplate capable of such a thing. "I see. I appreciate the offer, though I wonder why you might think it necessary."

I shrugged. "It might not be, but if it's fun anyway, who cares?"

Red Tornado looked between myself and the body he was building, contemplating my offer. Finally, he looked back at me and nodded. "Very well, we have an accord." He said, and he held out his hand to me.

I arched an eyebrow. "Might need to work on that vocabulary, but jolly cooperation it is!" I replied as I took his hand in kind.

And as our hands clasped together, there was the slightest blue spark.

=====A=====

A/N: I'm not entirely certain about that exchange between Jacob and Batman, at least in how it comes across. He's specifically concerned about Jacob himself more than anything else, just so that's clear.


	38. 10-1

=====A=====

I floated in the middle of a void, countless lines of light made of data wrapping around me and streaking off into the 'distance'. The Mountain's various systems branched out around me in the form of interconnecting nodes, but my main focus was the longer line leading out into the wider internet. The blue circuit pattern that made up my dataform pulsed and the data formed into a number of screens around me, each one showing a different new feed. _Really hope my body isn't flailing around in real-space_ , I thought to myself.

My physical body was standing in the middle of the Mountain's main room, but all of my attention was focused on the digital as I carefully started to sort through the various bits of information on world events. While I may have been put on the bench by Batman, that didn't mean I was going to be idle with my time, and I had been meaning to set up a proper news aggregator for the team for some time. It was just that until now time had always been the problem.

It was hard finding time to do all of the things I wanted to, even with my lack of sleep. There was just so damn much I _could_ be doing, I actually had to chart everything out and try to prioritize. I did have more free time on my hands now, but I didn't know how long that would be for. Still, usually I needed to balance what I could finish in a short amount of time with things that could potentially be more useful. Now though I had a chance to perhaps do something a little more long term.

 _Well, I've just about finished High Frequency blade tech, I just need to do some more test builds to make sure it doesn't destroy itself. Or my arm_ , I thought. Finishing that first was reasonable. So, what to focus on after that? Superboy's genetic shenanigans would still take a lot more study on my part, same with Zeta technology. I still needed to poke at the Psion ship more before I could figure out how its integrated systems works, and I had shipped off the shield prototype to Ted for him to poke at. _So, out of what I have left, what's the most versatile force multiplier? Hmm… I guess I should finish the Knife Missile prototype._

The Knife Missile was a small aerial drone I had been developing on and off for the past couple of weeks. About a foot long and triangular in shape, the first model was primarily built for speed and reconnaissance. It actually used a miniaturized aerokinetic core which I had reverse engineered from myself, which gave it a lot of maneuverability and speed. If I managed to improve the output and power consumption in later models, I could start mounting tools, weapons, and armor.

It also felt oddly nostalgic to be actually programming something again. I mean, aside from the compiler for my nanomachines I had been developing with Serling for the past several weeks, but that wasn't quite ready yet. I had spent so much of my time in the past few months playing at engineer that I was pining to do some code monkey work again.

 _And in a way, that's what I'm doing now_ , I thought as I gestured with my 'arm', and data coalesced around it before it parsed out into the information I wanted. While there was always more to build, today I was focusing on my arcane abilities. I had a much less solid plan for developing those, but so far my strategy of just 'try to do the thing and see what happens' was working moderately well. If nothing else, my technomantic skills worked as a useful bridge between my own systems and those around me until I got that compiler operational. For the moment, I was practicing my data parsing and analysis abilities, seeing just what the Algorithm was capable of when it came to pure information. And yet, I found it hard to focus.

For the third time that hour I glanced at the virtual object that floated next to my avatar, a gem with an ever shifting number of facets depending on the angle. It was a bit of weakly encrypted data I had whipped up to test my decryption abilities, and one I had already cracked open via brute force (simple enough once got my technomancy to utilize the power of my nanite mass, which was capable of many, _many_ flops). And yet, I kept finding myself wondering if there was a way to do it better.

Cryptography was, in a way, the art of making puzzles for which the solution was very easy to check, but next to impossible to figure out. Kinda like Sudoku; you can check if a completed Sudoku is correct in a couple of seconds, but doing the puzzle for real will always take much longer. With encryption, 'much longer' can translate to 'more than the lifetime of the universe' in practical terms. And it's only one way, you can't just take an encryption and try to reverse the process to get the answer.

And yet, as I stared at the digital gem, I wondered if you somehow could. The rest of the systems fell away from my perception as the gem itself expanded and twisted, folding in on itself as I picked it apart. It was like a puzzle box where each move you made changed the moves before it, and the box changes shape so you never knew how close you are to beating it. Shapes and numbers danced as I focused, and I saw the design of it fold out in ways I couldn't describe, metadata forming a structure around and through it. There was something there, something that could be done that was on the tip of my tongue.

Something impossi-

A sudden ringing caused me to start and snap out of it. A moment later I saw a thread of light pulsing near me, and recognized it as a phone call. From Artemis to me, of all people. I glanced back at the gem, but the memory was already slipping away. I held in a sigh and reached out to touch the thread. "Artemis. What do you need?"

She must have noticed my serious tone, and she responded. "No danger. This is a personal call. You, uh, aren't busy are you?"

I had a half formed 'P=NP' joke on my lips before I realized it would be lost on my current audience, and said. "Nah. So, what's up?"

She didn't respond immediately, humming awkwardly for a few moments. "Well, the thing is…" she trailed off before she sighed. "I start at a new school in a few day. A private school I didn't even apply for, but got an acceptance letter for anyway."

"Really?" I asked. "You think it was a mistake? Or some kind of trap?"

"What? No, no, my mom and I confirmed it with the school. And besides, this place is pretty highbrow, and there are way less expensive traps if that's what it's about." She grunted. "It's… you know what, never mind, it's not important."

"No, no, tell me." I insisted.

She sighed again. "It's just… unexpected. All of my friends – well, who aren't you guys – are at my old high school. I gotta get use to an entirely new scene with entirely new people. Ugh, they're probably all going to be preppy brats too."

"So… you want me to help you find a way out of this?" I asked as I pulled up laws regarding private schools in America. I didn't see how much help I could be though, aside from getting all of her friends into the same private school. Which… might actually possible consider all the money I had these days.

"No! Stop trying to fix this!" She yelled before she calmed down. "I… it's a good opportunity, it really is. My mom loves the idea that I might be more than-" she cut herself off before she started again. "I just needed someone to talk to about this. I'm getting frustrated, and it would be nice if there was someone I could vent to. Preferably someone who can relate."

My circuit lines glowed a little brighter as I said "Not that I'm not touched and all, but why did you call me of all people?"

"Come on, who else am I going to talk to?" She said incredulously. "My mom's the one who insisted I go in the first place, and Green Arrow… well, I don't think this sort of thing was ever a problem for him."

I grunted. "Fair enough, but what about our other teammates? You know, the ones actually going high school?"

"Yeah, let's run through that list, shall we?" She said. "Megan and Superboy are in the same boat I am with starting at high school, so no help there. Robin's just a kid, and Kaldur went to underwater military Hogwarts. Not exactly relatable. And Kori… wait, did Kori even go to school?"

"She had private tutors." I replied. The princess did have an education outside of the Warlords, though she didn't get to use it much these days. "What about Wally?"

"What _about_ Wally?" she said flatly. "I'm looking for someone to give me advice of how to adapt and fit in, not make everyone around me roll their eyes so hard they pop out of their skull."

I let out a small laugh before I said. "Well, I was a public school boy so I can't say much about private school. Unfortunately, as trite and cliché as it sounds, the best advice I can give to you is to be yourself."

I heard something between a sigh and a grumble on the other end of the line. "Yeah, cause then everything will be sunshine and rainbows, and I'll make all the friends, right?" She said in a tone that expressed just what she thought of that.

"Oh hell no, you are definitely going to piss some people off." I remarked. "Your sass game is too strong for coddled preppy kids to handle."

"…has anyone told you that you suck at this advice thing?" Artemis said, though she sounded a bit more interested now. "So, I shouldn't try to curb my tongue because… any friends I make by holding it back wouldn't be real friends?"

"Well, that's part of it, yeah. But there's more to it than that." I said as I started to pace (as pointless as it was in dataspace), old memories from my youth floating to the front of my mind. "It can be easy to just change one or two things about your behavior and appearance to fit in, and at first it will be fine. But keeping that mask up starts to wear on you, grinds away at the person you actual are and replaces it with some cheap imitation. Keep it up long enough and it almost feels natural. But you won't be happy. And you'll never let anyone get close of out fear of them learning the truth."

Artemis was silent for a long moment before she said in a strange tone "And what if no one there likes the 'real' me?"

I shrugged. "Then fuck 'em. You've got us."

"…thanks, Jacob." She replied softly.

"Anytime."

The two of us talked for a little while longer, mostly me imparting what little wisdom I could from hindsight of my own youth. ("Also, being yourself does not mean it's ok to be an asshole.") Once she ended the call, for a moment I found myself wondering how much I actually helped her. I really hadn't experienced anything like Artemis was currently going through, and my teenage years were a decade behind me. Well, best I could do was check in with her later and make sure she was adapting. For now though, I had some theoretical algorithm work to get back to, so I put the troubles of teenage girls out of my mind and-

I then both got a notification of an incoming Zeta Beam and heard the Zeta Tubes hum to life behind me. " _Recognized: Troia. B-0-9._ "

I blinked as I snapped out of dataspace and physically turned, watching as a figure stepped out of the golden light and into the main room. The young woman could have easily passed as Diana's younger sister, with an Olympian figure and long raven black hair. Though she was a little shorter and looked to be in her late teens. Her outfit was the black star-field leotard she was known for, the effect somehow extending to her hair as well.

Donna Troy strode up to me, planting her silver bracer clad hands on her hips. "I'm Troia. I'm here to join the team."

I looked her up and down for a moment before I said "Cool. Come on in, I'll show you around."

I didn't see her reaction with my eyes as I turned to lead her deeper into the Mountain, but with my blindsight I managed to catch the young woman stiffen in surprise. She definitely wasn't expecting things to go like that. The way she had approached me seemed like she had been expecting a confrontation. Well, if she wanted that, she was out of luck considering I was the first person she met when she beamed in.

That said, I also mentally sent out a signal that put the Mountain's defenses on yellow alert. While there was a good chance that this was in fact Donna Troy here to join the team, this was still someone I had never met who just wandered into our home base unannounced. Best to make some checks.

Accessing the Zeta logs showed that Troia had been added earlier that day, and as far as I could tell the log wasn't forged. The various sensors within the main room showed no signs of unusual energy signatures or heat distribution on her person. Didn't necessarily mean there wasn't anything nefarious afoot, but it ruled some things out. At the very least, I probably had enough time to make a phone call.

As I started the call, I heard Troia speak up from behind me. "So… that's it? Just like that I'm in?"

I led her down one of the Mountain's many nondescript corridors. "Sure. I mean, you're Troia. Why wouldn't you be allowed on the team?"

"Wait, you know who I am?"

The call then connected. " _Jacob,_ " I heard Diana's voice on the other end of the line. " _What can I do for you?_ "

" _Sorry to bother you,_ " I subvocalized. " _But Troia just walked into the Mountain and asked to join the team. Do you know about this?_ " Looking back I said out loud "Yeah, Diana told me about you." She didn't, but this girl didn't need to know that.

Troia looked nonplussed for a few moments before she said "Oh. Well, I guess you have me at a disadvantage then."

" _She did?_ " Diana said in surprise before she sighed. " _I was going to introduce here in a few days. It seems she had other ideas._ "

"Oh, where are my manners." I said as I turned fully and extended my hand. "Jacob Morgan. Pleasure to me you." Internally I said " _To be honest, I'm surprised she's picked just now to join. Did she only learn about the team recently?_ "

" _She has known about it for some time, but she only recently expressed interest in joining. It's… complicated. I'll be there as soon as I can to retrieve her._ "

" _No, don't worry about it_." I replied as Troia and I shook hands. " _If she wants to join, we can handle this ourselves._ "

" _I appreciate the sentiment, but it seems I've been neglecting her if she felt the need to meet you on her own. I shall remedy this._ " With that the call ended.

I frowned a little at that last bit, and I had to shake my head as Troia gave me a questioning look. "Sorry, I was thinking of something. What did you just say?"

"I said, while I appreciate your confidence in me," She said as she folded her arms over her chest. "Do you really think that it's a good idea to let just anyone who wanders in and asks to join the team?"

"Of course not." I admitted. "But making you think that put you off guard long enough for me to activate the Mountain's defenses and call Diana and confirm that it's really you."

Her eyebrows shot up. "Really?" She made a show of looking around. "Your defenses don't seem like much."

I snapped my fingers (for style, of course) and a Psion force field formed over both ends of the corridor. Panels opened up near the corners and lightning generators folded out before sparking to life. I hadn't managed to rig the entire Mountain up with defenses like this, but I had lead Troia down one of the ones I had.

As soon as this happened, the young woman immediately tensed and shifted weight into a balanced stance. Just as quickly I shut it all off and raised my hands placating. "Sorry, sorry. But you did ask… and I've been wanting to show that off for a while now."

It took a few seconds, but she did relax. "I see… you going to call Wonder Woman now?"

"Already did." I said, tapping the side of my head. "Being synthetic has its advantages."

"Huh." Troia was rather nonplussed by all this. "I have to admit, this is… a lot more on the ball than I was expecting."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

For the first time since I met her, Troia looked a little sheepish. "I… heard that your team's been having a rough go of things. I figured that you could use my help."

I arced an eyebrow. "Well, help is always appreciated, though I advise you take care how you phrase that to the rest of the team. I like to think we've handled the crazy stuff that's been thrown at us pretty damn well, all things considered."

She gave me an appraising look before she nodded. "Alright. Think I can meet the rest of your team now? See if I make an impression that doesn't end in force fields and tesla coils?"

I smirked. "Well, you can meet the members of the team that live here. They're…" I checked the time and blinked in surprise. "It's lunchtime already? Lost track of time… anyway, they're probably all in the kitchen right now. I'll introduce you."

The two of us walked through the Mountain's corridors, and soon enough we arrived at the kitchen. And sure enough, Kori, M'gann, and Superboy were there. The latter two were setting plates on the table, while Kori had her back to us hunched over the counter. M'gann looked at me, her eyes shifting between myself and Troia. "Jacob, who's this? And what was that alert earlier?"

I waved my hand. "Don't worry about it. Guys, this is Troia, Wonder Woman's apprentice. She wants to join the team."

On hearing this Kori shot up straight and turned, quickly flying towards us. She looked like she wanted to say something, but her mouth was currently full of, if my guess was correct, chicken wings covered in mustard. Nevertheless she tried a few more times before she held up a finger and rapidly started chewing.

"…that can't be good for you unless you have a super strong stomach." Troia remarked as she watched the other woman crunch clean through the bone.

"She'll be fine." I remarked. "One of her lesser known abilities is being able to eat pretty much anything organic. Well, that and the ability to monopolize one hundred percent of my attention any time she wills it."

The young woman gave me a strange look, but before she could say anything my girlfriend finished swallowing her impromptu snack (bones and all) and beamed at her. "Troia! It's a pleasure to finally meet you! Diana has told me about how she adopted you into her culture and how you have fought alongside her. And now you want to join us?"

 _Huh, so Diana did talk about her_ , I thought. It must have happened on one of the patrols where it was just the two of them.

Troia once again found herself on the back foot as she said. "Yes, well, I gave it some thought, and I decided that I could spare some of my time to help you guys out. Figured that I could show you the ropes of super hero work."

"That's great! Though Diana has been helping me with that already!" Kori said. "Same with Jacob, though Superman has also shown an interest in him."

"…Right." Troia said a little flatly before she drew herself up. "Still, Diana is a very busy woman. I can offer some guidance when she's not around."

Superboy seemed less enthused about all this. "No offense, but we're doing just fine on our own." He said with a slight frown.

"Are you sure?" She replied. "Because I've been hearing that-"

I cut her off before she could rile the teen up. "We've had a few rough spots, but we handled them. We're definitely not saying no to another helping hand, but to be honest you would have to have some _very_ specific knowledge to give us advice on the stuff we've been through."

She folded her arms across her chest and smirked. "Diana's shown me a lot over the years. Try me."

M'gann stepped forwards with a little trepidation. "Well… in the last mission our psychic link was invaded by an unknown psychic and all but one of us lost six months of memory. Oh, and we had to keep radio silence because the Bialyan military was hunting us. What should we have done?"

Troia blinked owlishly for a moment. "Uh… ok, that's pretty extr- wait, Bialyan military?! What the hell you guys doing out there?!"

"Reconnaissance." Kori replied. "Batman wanted us to investigate some strange energy signatures in the desert."

"But, that's out of UN jurisdiction!" The other woman insisted. "Why would he send you out there? I thought you guys just did patrols together or something!"

I arched an eyebrow. "Not… really. We're more of a specialist team for investigating and solving problems. We get sent out when the League wants something done low-key. Hell, that wasn't even the first time we were sent out somewhere we weren't supposed to be."

Troia looked at us wide eyed before she pursed her lips. "I… have severely misunderstood what am getting myself into."

It was at that moment I received a notification about a new arrival to the Mountain, but I decided to keep it to myself. Instead I said "So, still interested in joining up?"

Troia was silent for a few seconds, glancing over at each of us in turn. She looked at Kori a little longer than the rest of us before she turned back at me. "Yes. I'm… sorry if I came off as rude, but I'd still like to be a part of this. I still need to do school and stuff, but if that is the average sort of mission for you guys, you could definitely use my help."

Kori smiled. "Excellent! Having studied under Diana, you must be a great warrior, and will be great addition to the team. "

Troia's brow furrowed and she glanced back at me for a moment before she said "So, how do we do this? Do we spar, is there an obstacle course? I'd like not to get surprised anymore today."

A voice from the doorway said "As do I." Everyone turned and saw Diana walking into the kitchen to join us.

Troia stiffened before she turned. "Diana! What are you doing here?"

"Collecting you, it would seem." She said as she walked forward. Though her tone was stern, she had a small smirk on her face as she spoke. "Donna, I said that I would introduce you in a few days. Was that really not soon enough?"

"No, but…" the young woman gestured vaguely for a moment. "I can do this on my own. You don't have to chaperone me everywhere."

Diana arced an eyebrow. "I see. Well, in any case, you still have to wait a few days. There are certain matters the League has to discuss in regards to the team first."

Troia looked confused. "Why would that matter? Isn't it up to my prospective teammates?"

"The team is managed by the League. The final say for new members lies with us." Diana replied. Me and my teammate shared looks with one another, but the woman continued. "Don't worry though, after everything is settled, I'll make sure that you will have a spot waiting for you."

"No!" Troia exclaimed. "It mean, isn't there anything I can do to speed that up?"

"No, but what is the hurry?" The older woman asked. "Didn't you want to focus on academics first? Have you really changed your mind that quickly?"

"That's not-" Troia started to say before she sighed. "Forget it."

I got the impression there was a lot going on under the surface of that exchange, but for the moment I was more curious as to why Troia was being so…bothered when we talked about letting her on the team, even when she asked for it in the first place. Of course, I realized what it was after putting a second of thought into it. Or at least I suspected the reason why. And if I was right, we weren't giving the young woman the thing she wanted. Time to fix that.

Before Diana could say anything more, I spoke up. "We'll need a couple of days to set up the tests anyway, and gather the rest of the team. Gotta make sure everything's calibrated to your strength and skill. That said, make sure you bring you're 'A' game."

I got a couple of confused looks for that, but no one in the room said anything to challenge it. Troia straightened a bit in surprise, but after a second she gave a small smirk and said "Oh, you don't even know what an 'A' game is until you've seen mine."

"Really?" Diana's tone was something between amused and dangerous as she looked at her sister. "Well then, it couldn't hurt to show me first so I can make sure that it is as good as you say. At the very least I think some improvements can be made in regards to impulsiveness." Troia gulped nervously and nodded.

Shortly thereafter the two left, and then Kori turned to look at me. "Tests? I was not aware of any tests. As Diana's apprentice, I don't see any reason for us not let her join."

"But that's not what she wants." I countered as I looked back. "Troia came here on her own because she wanted us to see her as Troia, not Wonder Woman's apprentice. Other reasons aside, she wants to prove herself, not just be handed a spot on the team."

"Oh. Oh!" Kori exclaimed as understanding dawned on her. "Well, of course we will oblige her then. Though I wonder why she didn't say as much."

I shrugged. "Humans can be… indirect about things sometimes."

M'gann hummed as she cupped her chin in her hand. "What should the tests be though? They should be specific to what our team does, but even now I'm not sure how to describe that."

"Leave it to me." I said. "I've been meaning to nail down exactly what this team's role is for a while now anyway, and I've got a decent idea of what Troia's capable off. Plus my schedule's open. Well, assuming Black Canary doesn't drop in for another surprise therapy session."

Kori perked up. "Oh, you had your first session with her. How did it go?"

"Err…" I hesitated. To Black Canary's credit, the moment she had been informed of what had happened and Batman's decision to bench me for the time being, she set up our first session the very next day. As for how it went though…

* * *

 _"You… want me to lead this thing?" I asked the woman sitting across from me with an arched eyebrow._

 _"You can talk about whatever you want." Black Canary said with a relaxed smile. "This is your time Jacob. Feel free to say what's on your mind."_

 _I was silent for several seconds before I finally said "So… why fishnets?"_

 _She frowned and sat up straighter. "I beg your pardon?"_

 _"Why fishnets?" I asked as I pointed to her legs. "I mean, those can't be a practical accessory for combat."_

 _"I… it was part of my mother's costume, the original Black Canary." She said. "Much of my outfit is based on hers, as a way to honor her and her work."_

 _"Ah." I said. "You know, I remember now that, back where I came from, the original Black Canary's character design was made the way it was because it appealed to the creator's fetishes. Weird, huh?"_

 _She looked at me for a long moment before she looked off to the side worried._

* * *

"…I think I gave her an existential crisis."

"You keep using that term," Kori said with a furrowed brow. "I do not think it means what you think it means."

"Oh don't you start quoting Princess Bride at me." I said as I waggled my finger at her. After a moment I just sighed. "In all seriousness, that session she seemed more interested in… I guess getting a feel for me. We didn't really talk about anything important, she just let me ramble for an hour."

"You think you're any closer to getting put back on active duty?" Superboy said with a slight frown.

"Hard to say. I doubt that it will be anytime soon. Regardless of what conclusion Black Canary comes to, I'm pretty sure the League wants me to spend some time cooling off." I really hoped that Black Canary wasn't trying to lead me to some kind of realization. That would be both irritatingly patronizing and a waste of time.

Superboy grumbled, expressing his own displeasure with my situation. When I had come clean to my team about just what had happened at the military base, their reactions were… mixed. Kori and Kaldur, having military upbringings, considered my actions to be perfectly acceptable. Robin and Wally on the other hand were much more unsettled, and hadn't really been around the Mountain since then. Artemis was neutral about the whole thing, and M'gann was more worried about myself then what I had done.

Superboy on the other hand seemed angry about the whole thing. Not at me, I think, but about the whole thing in general. I hadn't quite pinned down the exact reason, and I wasn't sure how to broach the subject, or even if I should. There was also the matter of his imbedded trigger word I had stumbled upon at the end of the mission that made things more muddled. Apparently he had been conditioned so that the phrase 'Red Sun' caused him to black out and freeze for several hours. And I had found it by complete accident (though really it was just a matter of time considering the Kyptonian). M'gann had since gone into his head and cleared out any triggers she could find, but he was still frustrated by the whole thing.

Before I could ruminate on that more, a notification from the Mountain's systems caused me to turn my head back towards the main room. "Looks like Kaldur's stopping by for lunch."

"Oh good," M'gann said as she floated plates to the table. "I've been practicing fish dishes, I'd like to get his opinion on them."

A minute later Kaldur found his way to the kitchen and saw the lot of us gathered around table. "Kaldur! We were just about to start eating." M'gann said as she pulled out a chair for him. "Come join us."

The Atlantian looked surprised for a moment before a small smile crept onto his face. "Of course." He said before taking a place at the table. "I should tell you though that I am expected back in Atlantis relatively soon."

"We can make it a quick lunch." I said. "We shouldn't hold you up for long."

"Actually, I was wondering if you all would like join me as well." Kaldur said, and we all perked up in surprise. "I have been meaning to find the right time and place to ask all of you, apart from the others. No offense to them, but I doubt they would be able to tolerate the pressure and temperature of my home. I thought you might be interested in seeing my home."

The rest of us looked at each other with various levels of excitement. I smiled and looked back at Kaldur. "Hell yeah we want to go have an adventure under the sea."

=====A=====

A/N: You know, for how much 'Who is Donna Troy' is a thing, it's surprisingly difficult to find any answers relating to her personality.


	39. 10-2

=====A=====

While Poseidonis, the capital of Atlantis, did have a Zeta Tube, Kaldur wanted to show us his home town of Shayeris first (and I imagine visit his parents as well). As such, we ended up taking Moya down to the ocean floor instead. The bioship once again proved how adaptable it was by showing no problem cutting through the deeps of the sea, though the pressure was causing her to compress a little. There was still plenty of room on Moya's command deck for the five of us though, and she had made much of her front hull transparent so that we could see the watery landscape rolling beneath us.

"The idea of an underwater civilization is so fascinating." Kori said, leaning back in her seat as she looked at Kaldur. "Are the deeps of the planet peaceful, or is living at the bottom of the sea a constant struggle?"

From his seat in front of the controls, Kaldur hesitated for a moment before her replied "It was… difficult just after the Sinking, but we have adapted since then. We now live in harmony with our environment."

Kori hummed. "Such a thing would be unthinkable back on my home world. The depths of Tamaran's oceans are full of large, violent beasts. Which is to say nothing how detrimental my people would find of the lack of light."

"As I said, we have adapted, including to the creatures that live down here." He said. "As for the light, well, why don't you see for yourself." As he said this, I noticed a bloom of light coming from behind a ridge in front of us, getting brighter as we approached. I got out of my seat and stepped towards the window, stopping the moment Moya crested over the ridge.

Imagine a massive coral reef, one the size of a small city. Now imagine that it had been shaped by Greco-Roman architects, and you have an idea of the sight that was sprawling out before me. Spirals covered in columns reached up from the ocean floor, coral cliff faces with archways, and domes that reminded me nothing so much as clam shells. All of it in vibrant colors that made the whole city look like a rainbow in my eyes, lit up by countless lights that wavered in the water.

My hand touched Moya's transparent surface as I looked down at the majestic cityscape that splayed out before us, taking in every detail I could. After a few seconds I noticed that Kori had taken up position next to me. "You know…" I whispered. "If I had kept my normal life… I never would have seen anything quite like this."

At that she leaned into me, and her hand found mine. The two of us stood in silence like that for a long moment.

We traveled deeper into the city before Kaldur slowed the ship down to a stop. We had pasted most of the larger structures that made up the heart of Shayeris, and now we were amid a field of smaller bubble like buildings. I figured that this must have been a residential district, and Kaldur confirmed as much when he said "We have arrived. This is my home." He pointed to the nearest building.

We all got up as a hole formed in Moya's floor. Kaldur was the first to dive through, and I moved to follow after him. Superboy put a hand on my chest and stopped me though, looking concerned. "Wait, I thought you couldn't swim." He said.

I grinned. "Technically, I couldn't not sink. But not anymore." I stepped forward and jumped in.

This was the first time I was really testing out my underwater propulsion tech. I had long anticipated that that it would come up at some point, so I had gone to Ted a while back and purchased one of his aquatic drones to assimilate. Of course, while the high tech water jet thrusters were nice, it wasn't until I got the buoyancy feature of the aerokinetic core working that I could keep myself from sinking to the bottom. In addition, though it wasn't really built for it, the fluidics manipulator function of the core worked surprisingly well underwater. Combining it all meant that I could basically make some internal alteration to my flight form and have it function underwater.

Externally though, my current form was an attempt at making my technological features more… smoothly integrated with my human form. Seeing as how it didn't need all of my control surfaces like I did in the air, most of my body still look recognizably human, with the exception being my forearms, my legs below the knees, and parts of my chest and back. The skin in those areas was a scale-like mesh with visible seam lines tracing up and down the region. As I hit the water the seams split apart and panels folded away to reveal the various intakes and outtakes that were just beneath my skin.

Human skin was still a bit of a pain for me to get right, still took an annoying amount of time to return to normal if I did anything 'extra' with it. However, the mesh skin I had come up with before Amazo was a lot easier to work with, so I had the idea to use it to cover subdermal modifications which I could easily pull back and restore at will. It wasn't perfect, but it was a step forward.

I spun in the water as I got my bearings and watched Kori and Superboy jump out after me. Kori was wearing her costume as it was good for water use, and I had managed to convince Superboy to put on a black wetsuit with the S-Shield on the front ("For the love of- it's not tights, it's a wetsuit. Do you really think your jeans will survive over a day in seawater?"). Both were wearing rebreathers on their face, far more advanced than anything that existed back on my home.

M'gann slipped out after them, and I noticed that she formed a set of gills along her neck. _Wait, does she actually need to breathe, or is that just for aesthetic purposes?_ I wondered. Considering how thin the atmosphere was on Mars, I just kind of assumed that she didn't need to breathe at all. "I wonder if I'm the first Martian to ever be this deep in water?" She said, her voice carrying an odd warble through the water. I still heard her clearly through the comm she wore though, as they incorporated vibrational microphones.

"It seems probable," Kori remarked as she floated towards me, her flying ability only marginally less effective in water. She arched her body as she did a little corkscrew around me, and I couldn't help but smile a little as I watched her.

Kaldur then led us towards an entrance into the closest coral structure, which turned out to be tunnel. I was actually a little surprised when not long after we entered the structure the tunnel terminated in a moonpool, and opened up into an air filled house. I guess I just expected that most of an Atlantian's house to be full of water. The room itself was small and circular and looked to be some kind of foyer. "Is everything here made out of coral?" I asked after I emptied the water from my 'lungs', my hand tracing over the patterned blue floor. It looked like tiles, but it didn't feel quite right. They tessellated across every wall around us, shifting in color with each new surface.

"Yes, though it is not a natural breed." Kaldur replied as the rest of my roommate climbed out of the pool. "Atlantian architects have spent millennia cultivating coral in various kinds for building material." We then all followed him through the adjourning hallway and into the house proper. All sorts of lumpy but comfortable looking furniture was spread about the circular room, recessed lighting casting the space in soft tones. "Mother, Father, I am here with the friends I have told you about."

"Kaldur!" A woman with flowing golden hair and a flowing two piece dress walked around an archway, a bright smile on her face. He skin was almost the same shade as her hair, and I noted she shared Kaldur's gills and webbing. She embraced my teammate in a warm hug. When she pulled back she spoke again, but it was in what I assume was Atlantian Greek.

A man then walked out from the archway following Kaldur's mother, this one with dark skin and short black hair in a simple bodysuit. Seeing how he had the same gills and webbing, it wasn't a difficult guess that this was Kaldur's father.

Kaldur returned his mother's hug as he said something back in the same language. He then pulled back and gestured to the rest of us. "These are my friends from the surface. Everyone, this is my mother and father, Sha'lain'a and Calvin."

Kori stepped forward, and said something in the same language that Sha'lain'a had just spoken in. The Alantians present were surprised by how she knew their language. I wasn't entirely sure when she picked it up either, but she probably just asked Kaldur for it at some point.

M'gann then also spoke up in kind. I suppose that her telepathy made it pretty easy to learn languages.

And then Superboy said something I didn't understand either. Huh. I… guess that those Genomorphs gave him a pretty thorough education.

A beat passed before everyone looked at me. I shuffled my feet. "Well, this is just embarrassing." I muttered. For everything I've studied over the past few months, languages was not one of them. To be honest I had always been kind of rubbish at other (non-programming) languages, so I hadn't really bothered aside from what Kori had taught me. Hell, I probably knew more Tamaranian now than what I knew about high school French.

Calvin chuckled a little at this. "Don't worry about it," he said in English. "English is something of a second language here in Atlantis, useful for when we need to communicate with the surface."

"Ah," I said. "So, uh, it's good to meet you. Your son is a great friend and teammate."

"Oh, you'll have to tell us all about it!" Sha'lain'a said. "Kaldur is always so terse when he talks about his adventures on the surface."

Kaldur, predictably, looked a little sheepish at this. "Mother, there are many thing about my missions we can't talk about. Some things have to remain secrets after all."

Calvin put his hand on his son's shoulder. "Of course we know that, but we still want to be a part of your life if we can. And even if we can't, we want you to know that we're proud of you."

Next to me, Superboy shuffled a little. Glancing sideways at him I could see that his muscles had tensed a little. I nudged him with my shoulder and grunted inquisitively. He grunted back, but it took a few seconds before he said under his breath. "You're still working on DNA stuff, right?"

I arched an eyebrow at that, but I said "Yeah. It's still going to be a bit though, I'm learning genetics from scratch."

"Good. I'm still not strong enough. If I don't get stronger he won't-" Superboy clamped his mouth shut and looked off to the side. "Never mind."

I frowned as I looked at him. Did he really still think that Superman didn't like him because he was half Kryptonian? I really thought that misconception would fix itself at some point, but I guess the two hadn't talked to each other. Weird. Well, knowing how stubborn Superboy could be, I didn't see much of a point in trying to convincing him otherwise right then. Instead I just said "When we get back there's some stuff we can try out. I have some ideas about how you might get some more control over your strength."

That seemed to placate him, and I turned my attention back to everyone else in the living room in time to hear Sha'lain'a say. "Now, I know it is a bit late for it, but what does everyone say to continuing this over a late lunch?"

Kori emphatically agreed before the rest of us could say anything.

* * *

Second lunch with Kaldur's parents was a pleasantly normal affair. We talk about surface life compared to underwater life, about Kaldur's earlier life, and what his parent's did for a living. His father was with the Atlantian military, and his mother… was an accountant (well, I guess they really are needed everywhere). Afterwards we said our goodbyes and headed onwards to the Atlantian capital.

Though Shayeris had captured my first-impression wonder of Atlantis, Poseidonis was impressive all the same. The city was massive, easily the size of New York or London. The whole city sprawled out over some very uneven terrain consisting of rolling plains, rocky peaks, and flat mesas. It was much more of a mess in its layout compared to Shayeris, but most of its traffic swam above the haphazard streets. The numerous points of light illuminating the city spread out in spiraling pattern, a view from the mesas showing most of the city in all directions.

The Royal Palace was atop one of these mesas, and it was the closest to classical Greek architecture I had seen since I got there. Rather than the shaped coral that most of the other buildings were made out of, the palace looked to be made out of stone and tile. Given how pristine the sprawling structure looked, I could only assume that it was maintained via magic. We had to wait outside for a minute or so as a messenger brought word of our arrival, but soon enough we were brought to the throne room.

It was decorated much how I thought an undersea throne room would be: pillars, shells, statues of seahorses, and guards with tridents, everything done in pastel colors. At the end of the long chamber were a pair of thrones, the first made out of rough coral, and the second out of spiraling shells. The first, which I assumed was Aquaman's, was empty, as the man was currently helping the League out with some flooding in Norway.

And on second throne sat Mera, Queen of Atlantis. The woman was much as I imagined her, slender with sharp features in a flowing green two-piece, and deep red hair cascading behind her, held back by a tiara-like crown. She smiled as she saw us approach. "Kaldur, always good to see you. And of course any friends of yours are welcome as well."

I took a step forward. "It is an honor to meet you, Queen Mera." I said, giving her a slight bow. I hoped that was appropriate, I didn't really know anything about Atlantian formality.

She gave me a nod, but said "Please, no need to be so formal, you are guests. Might I assume that you are members of Kaldur's team on the surface that I have heard about?"

"Yes," Kori said. "There are others that are not here with us, but we are the members that live at the Mountain. I am Koriand'r, and this is M'gann, Superboy and Jacob."

Surprisingly, I noticed that her eyes alighted on me for a moment at the mention of my name, but before I could say anything the Queen said "Well, we are happy to have you here. There is a lot to see in Poseidonis if it is your first time, are you planning to stay overnight? If you'd like, you can spent the night in the palace in one of our guest rooms."

"That is very generous of you," Kori and, and after we all looked at each other in affirmation she looked back and said "We would be delighted."

"Excellent." The queen said. "I do hope that you look favorably upon my kingdom while you are here. Anything in particular you are interested in?"

The others didn't comment, as they really didn't know many specifics about Atlantis. So I stepped up and said. "I am looking forward to seeing the Conservatory. There are a few things about magic I'm eager to learn."

"Oh?" Mera leaned forward, her interest peaked. "Are you an aspiring mage?"

"Not exactly. I have a very… unique form of magic I want to learn more about, and I was hoping one of the world's greatest magic academies could help me it figure out."

The queen hummed, an odd gleam in her eye as she considered me. "You know, as the headmistress of the Conservatory, the study of magic is one of my passions. And I am always interested in seeing new forms of it. This evening, after I have finished my royal duties for the day, come by the palace library. I would love to help you tease out whatever mysteries are troubling you."

I blinked in surprise and stood up straighter. "I… would be honored, your majesty. I mean, if it is not too much trouble."

She smiled as she gestured. "Of course not. In fact, I must insist."

I just nodded and smiled as she turned to the others and asked after them, but internally I was a bit confused. I mean, I guess it wasn't too unusual that a mage like her would be interested in poking at a new form of magic, but she was a Queen. And she didn't even know what my magic was yet. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was missing something.

After Mera had finished, she said "As much as I would like to continue entertain you, I am afraid I have other duties I must get back to. Keeping everything running smoothly and all that."

"Not without me, I should hope." A voice behind us call out. We turned to see a man swimming down the carpet with easy stride, dressed in a red, black, and gold skin suit. He was tall and well-built with slicked back dark hair. "Not to disparage your own statesmanship of course, but with our king playing superhero, someone must pick up the slack."

Mera gestured. "Everyone, may I introduce Prince Orm, King Orin's brother. He often fills the role of Regent while my husband is away."

"Which is more than he should be, in my opinion." The man remarked, but he had an easy smile as he regarded the lot of us. "Still, if his association with the surface has brought fine people like you down to us, I suppose it is not all bad." His eyes settled on me and stopped, and I noticed a slight flutter in his body heat. "May I have you names? I do keep an ear to news of the surface, I may have heard of you."

I arched an eyebrow, but I approached. "I'm Jacob, pleasure to meet you. I go by the name Machina when I'm on the job."

Orm blinked as he looked at me before he extended his arm in kind. "Ah, yes of course. I vaguely recall you being the subject of discussion a few weeks back. Some major incident in one of your cities, I'm afraid I cannot recall the details."

"I don't like to talk about it." I replied. He seemed reasonable enough. I really hoped that was actually the case. The only thing I remembered about the man from my life before was the episode of Justice League where he threw a coup and tried to wage war with the surface world. That version was much more angry and aggressive than the affable man in front of me though, so hopefully that wasn't the only difference.

"Ah of course." He said neutrally.

Kori floated forwards. "I am Koriand'r, and I go by the title of Starfire. It is wonderful to be visiting your kingdom, and I hope to see as much of it as I can. Queen Mera has offered to let us stay the night to help with this."

Orm smiled. "Mera has always been a gracious host." He said. The man then straightened up a bit, as if he remembered something. "Ah dear, this is unfortunate. I am sorry to leave so quickly, but I just remembered. There is an appointment with my advisory council that I must keep. A rather dreary matter involving taxes on imports. I wish you the best for your stay here." With that, the prince turned and swam away.

I stared after him for a long moment. I was definitely missing something.

* * *

We didn't go straight to the Conservatory after that, as there were plenty of other things to see in the underwater city on the way. We stopped at bazar that ran down one of the longer, winding streets of the city, and I was happy to find its contents were just as varied and weird as I imagined them to be. Sure there was plenty of fish, but there was also strange rocks, underwater fruits, jewelry, junk, magical junk, magi-tech junk, and all sorts of knick-knacks for the aspiring tourist. I'd have to remember to come back here when I had currency they would accept.

Our current stop was at the end of that street, and something of a 'park' with a lot of natural flora and fauna. Coral was in abundance of course, though there were also kelp 'trees' and 'grass' littering the area. What made this spot special though was that it had something that was a cross between a zoo and a biotech exhibit. Apparently there was a market for magically enhanced sea animals among the Atlantian populous, typically for pets but there was also a few used as beasts of burden or guard animals.

I wasn't sure if their guard sharks could shoot laser beams from their foreheads, but it was a distinct possibility.

At the moment though, I was in the 'pets' section of the exhibit, looking over a fine selection of cephalopods. One of the octopuses managed to squirm out its enclosure and then swam up to me, darting around and looking at me curiously. Judging by the size it was a Mimic Octopus, about twice the size of my hand. I reached my hand out to touch it, but it darted to the side before tagging my arm with one of its tentacles. I smiled and tried again, a little game of tag developing between the two of us. Eventually I managed to tag it back when my other hand sneaked up behind it. It grabbed my hand before crawling up my limb and settling on my shoulder, changing color and texture to match my skin.

I think I just gained the underwater equivalent of a shoulder parrot.

"Jacob! Look at what I found!" I heard Kori say excitedly behind me.

I turned… and paused when I saw what she was holding. "Kori that's a giant isopod."

"I know! Look at all of his wiggly little legs!" She cooed as she cradled the massive sea louse in her arms like a baby. The creature (insofar as I could determine the emotions of a magically enchanted sea bug) seemed baffled by the treatment, but was going along with it regardless. Kori tickled its chitonous underbelly and she said "Aren't you just the cutest _gorbnek_? Aren't you, you _snermak rebluk_? _Nek bra'k sh'moor zenbles_!"

And now my girlfriend had devolved into Tamaranian baby talk. Great.

Kaldur looked between her and the creature in her arms, and then glanced at myself. "Ah, now I get it."

I scowled. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Before he could reply, a voice from behind us spoke up. "Kaldur!" we turned to see a pair of teens swimming up to us. One was a lithe male with long dark hair in a topknot, at the other was a slender female with short auburn hair. Both were dressed in that mix of skintight and flowing fabrics that seemed to be the norm underwater, though the girl was in much more vibrant yellow and green compared to his grey and blue. The guy swam to a stop in front of us and said "I got you message, though I thought you'd be coming to the conservatory straight away."

"My teammates wished to see a few things along the way first." Kaldur said before he looked at me. "Jacob, this is Garth and Tula, my oldest friends."

I drifted closer and held out my hands. "Pleasure to meet you both. Have to say, Atlantis has not disappointed, and I haven't even seen everything yet."

"Great!" Tula said happily. "I've always been curious about the surface. It's nice to know that someone from up there likes it down here are well. If you're staying a while, Garth and I can give some recommendations for places we like to go to."

"Well, I'm not sure all of those places are quite suited to those just visiting." Garth remarked. Tula looked at him and a slight smirk crossed his face, causing her to blush a little. The moment passed quickly, and Garth looked to me. "So, I heard that there were others with you."

I nodded and pointed off to the side. "That's M'gann and Superboy over there." I said. The pair were currently watching an Atlantian mage direct a large school of fish with rainbow scales to swarm in intricate patterns.

"And I am Koriand'r!" My girlfriend, having been briefly distracted by the Atlantian salesman telling her to put the isopod back, then floated over to us. Her hair didn't have the same fire effect underwater, but the heat of it did cause her hair to expand and flow in some interesting ways. And seeing as how she was still excited from meeting her new best crustacean friend, she was framed by a halo of air and rippling water as she greeted the two.

"By Poseidon!" Garth muttered under his breath as he looked Kori up and down.

"I know, right?" I said.

He then realized that he was staring and started to stammer "U-uh, I mean, it's a pleasure to meet you. I had heard that the surface had, uh, unique humans of their own, but I wasn't expecting something like you. Wait, I don't mean that in a bad way! You are quite beautiful- no, wait!"

Despite his stumbling, Kori brightened. "Thank you!" She leaned in a closer and her expression turned a bit sly. "So are you."

Garth was a sputtering wreak at that comment, his face turning red. Tula wasn't faring much better, though she was feeling a tad more indignation. She swam in between the two of them and poked Garth in the chest. "G-Garth! What is wrong with you?! You- did you forget all your manners?!" she said before she looked at Kori. "And you! You can't just- you stay away from him!"

Kori, of course, was confused by this. "Did I do something wrong? I am sorry, I am not familiar with Atalantian customs. I was returning his compliment."

Tula huffed. "You don't see why-?" She started to say before she simply took Garth's hand in her own, weaving their fingers together. She held up their hands and looked at Kori expectantly.

Kori looked at them for a moment before a look of understanding crossed here face. "Oh, I see, it was rude of me to only complement one of you." She took Tula's free hand and moved closer. "You are quite beautiful too."

Tula was completely bewildered by this. Of course, this whole exchange had me smirking from ear to ear. Social awkwardness was so much more amusing when I was not a part of it. Kaldur saw my expression and raised an eyebrow. "You are… surprisingly accepting of your girlfriend's behavior." He remarked.

"Kaldur, she's a borderline naturalist who flirted with half the team before we started dating. I knew what I was getting into."

It was at that point that Tula seemed to have enough of this craziness and excused herself from the group, with Garth following after her in a mild panic. Kori looked after them, worried. "I am not sure I did that right. I believe I should go clear up any misunderstandings." And with that she swam after them.

Next to me, Kaldur let out a small sigh. "I believe I should go _prevent_ any misunderstandings." He said, before he followed after her.

I floated there alone for a few moments, shaking my head. _Teenagers_ , I thought with a sort of weary amusement. Speaking of which, M'gann seemed to have caught the tail end of that little event, and drifted over to me. "Is… this sort of thing common? Among humans, I mean."

"Well, the added bit of Tarmaranian mixes things up a bit," I commented. "But if you're talking about the slight significant other drama we just saw, I'd say it's typical among teens. Not a given, but typical."

"Ah. I'll need to remember that." She said. "I mean, I start school tomorrow, so I need to be sure I don't make a social mistake like this." She straightened a little when she realized what she implied. "I-I mean, I probably wouldn't do _that_ , it's not like I'm going to be flirting with the boys because-"

"M'gann…"

"I just need to be sure I make a good first impression, the first episode made it very clear that a bad first impression can ruin things for the rest of the year-"

"M'gann."

"And need to be sure I'm not too weird, I have to make sure I do everything right and normal or-"

I sighed and drifted forward, my hands coming up to press onto either side of her face. "Smoosh."

M'gann let out a little 'eep' and went stiff at the contact. "I, uh, ok? What are you doing?"

"You were being unreasonably adorable, so I decided to smoosh your face."

"Jacob!" She wormed her way out of my grasp. "You can't just do that to a person!"

"If you don't want that, you shouldn't be so adorable when you fuss." I countered.

"I'm not… trying to be…" she trailed off. "That's just how I am."

"Well then I'm sorry, because then the only reasonable course of action for me is to smoosh your face. Smoosh." I proved my point by smooshing her face again.

"Jacob!" She protested and squirmed again. I laughed before releasing her face and bringing her into a hug.

"You'll be fine." I said. "The kids at school will love you, I promise." The Martian small noise before wrapping her arms around me in turn.

It was at this point that Kori came back, and she eyed the two of us with confusion. "What is all this about then?"

" _Huuuuuuuggggggs_."I replied.

She looked at us for a moment longer before she shrugged and drifted closer, joining the hug by coming up behind M'gann and wrapping her arms around both of us. Pressed between the two of us as she was, the Martian let out a small, high pitched noise, causing me and Kori to laugh.

Superboy then drifted near the group hug, and small frown on his face as he eyed us. Kori must have figured his issue was his current non-inclusion, so she remedied this by pitching us all into him, and the lot us yelled as we tumbled through the water as a ball of people.

* * *

To my surprise, Kaldur didn't immediately come back after resolving the minor spat between his friends. I left the others behind to go find him, and a short while later I located him sitting on a rock among some tall kelp. He was looking down at some people checking out a selection of exotic fish, a downcast expression on his face.

I frowned, but I swam over to where he had settled, and sat down on the rock next to him. "Did... Kori really screw things up that much? I'm sorry, I could try to smooth things over myself if you think that would help."

His brow twitched a little as he looked at me. "…Thank you, but that's not…" he trailed off. "It is nothing, we should get back to the others."

I had to hold back my sigh. _Alright, let's go for the hat trick_ , I thought to myself before saying "Kaldur, trust me, I'm an expert when it comes to 'it's nothing'. Kori gives me enough flak for using it as much as I do. So I can tell when 'nothing' means more than your trying to let on."

The teen look at me for a long moment before a mirthless smile crossed his face. "I… suppose I have been distant lately. I had a bit of a… lack of purpose recently. A feeling of listlessness."

I tilted my head. "I thought that's what your vacation was for, to clear your head."

"It was. And during that time I came to the decision to leave the team."

I sat up straight in surprise. "What? Why?"

"To put it short… I missed my home. And with Koriand'r leading that team, I felt I wasn't truly needed." He paused for a moment before he sighed. "And there was something else. Something that made me wish to return here for good. Someone I had given my heart to."

"Ah." I grunted. "Well, if you made your mind up, far be it for me to tell you otherwise. But, then why did you come back at all?"

"Because when I last returned here, I found that she had started dating my best friend."

My teeth clenched and I had to stop myself from drawing a sharp breath. "Ah… shit. That sucks, man."

Kaldur grunted. "I suppose I should have expected this. I spent too much time away. Or perhaps… Garth was just the better man."

I snorted. "Oh, 'better man' my ass. You're second in command of a superhero team while Garth is just student."

He frowned and looked at me. "He was at my side when we save King Orin from Ocean Master. He did not turn down the chance to be our King's apprentice because he did not have the mettle. Don't think less of him for it."

I held my hands up. "Alright, but my point stands. Unless Tula said otherwise, I refuse to believe that you didn't get her due to a personal failing."

He was silent for a few seconds before an odd expression crossed his face. "You don't suppose… there is anything I can do to change her mind?"

I pulled back a little. "That… is a very loaded question. Besides, why would I know the answer?"

"You are older and more experienced, so I thought perhaps this sort of thing may have happened to you before. As well, you and Koriand'r seem to get along quite smoothly. You are much better at romance than I."

 _…This universe really is bizarre if someone can say that to me completely seriously_ , I thought as I tried to keep my face straight. _I mean, when in the goddamn hell did I become the expert on relationships? Oh right, when I started hanging out with a bunch of teenagers_. Out loud, I said "Well, I haven't had this exact thing happen to me, but I have been rejected before. And yeah, it sucks."

"What did you do about it?"

"Well… nothing." I said with a shrug. "There was nothing to do but pick myself up and move on. I mean, do you honestly think that Tula and Garth are bad for each other? Not 'suboptimal', but will actively make their lives miserable by being together?"

"…No."

"Then you probably don't want to hear this, especially so soon… but you will get over this. Tula seemed like a nice girl, but if she's not interested, then it's not the end of the world."

Kaldur looked at me, his mouth pressed into a thin line. "Would you be saying the same thing if Koriand'r had rejected you as well?"

I frowned. Really should have seen that coming. "Yes," I replied. "I would have felt miserable, but I know would get over it." Probably. To be honest, part of me got annoyed at Kaldur for comparing the two. No offense to Tula, but Kori was just so much more… no, that line of thought isn't helpful right now. Focus on Kaldur. "My point is, there are plenty of-"

"Please don't say 'fish in the sea'." He said with exasperation.

"…I was going to say women out there." He must never know. "I know it sounds trite, but I'm sure that there are a lot of women out there who would be interested in you."

"…but none of them are Tula." Kaldur said as he hung his head, with a solemn melodrama that only a teenager could manage.

"Oh for the- you have to actually give them a chance. Just pick one that seems interesting as see what happens. Maybe you'll be surprised. Like, I don't know…" I glanced around the park at the few people passing through, and I pointed at a girl that appeared to be Kaldur's age. "That chick."

The girl in question was of the same subspecies as Kaldur, with webbed hands and feet, and gills lining the sides of her neck. Unlike Kaldur though she had iridescent blue scales along her arms and legs, as well as a strip running down her spine. Her long white hair was done up in a loose ponytail, and floated around her head as she looked closely at a dangerous looking lionfish.

"…Jacob, I have no idea who that is." Kaldur said. "Would you really just walk up court a woman you just saw?"

"Me? Oh, course not, I'm an awkward introvert with just enough cleverness too trick people into thinking I'm charming. You on the other hand are a calm and stoic badass. You have webbed hands, she has webbed hands… you can both commiserate over how hard it is to buy gloves."

Aqualad snorted, but I saw a slight smile grace his face. "Upon reflection, it's amazing you have gotten as far with Koriand'r as you have."

"I know, right?" I said before I held out my hand to him. "Alright, come on, the others are waiting."

He straightened as he took my hand… which I grabbed forcefully and pulled. "But first!" I said with a grin as I quickly dragged us down to the group of people. We came to a sudden stop in front of white haired girl, she blinking in surprise at our sudden appearance. "Haaaave you met Kaldur?" I said before I jetted away, cackling like a mad man as I left two confused teens in my wake.

=====A=====

A/N: So, bit of a status update, I've been dealing with some minor health problems for the past few weeks. Nothing serious, and I'm looking into it, but a combination of fatigue, lightheartedness and eye strain have made writing difficult at times. Updates will slow until I get a handle on this.


	40. 10-3

=====A=====

Eventually we managed to pull ourselves away from the market and head towards the Conservatory of Sorcery. Tula and Garth had gone ahead to meet us there (and gather their wits after meeting Kori), and the rest of us wrapped things up in the park.

I noticed that Kaldur took a little longer to get back to us than I thought he would.

In any case, the Conservatory was similar to the Palace in that it was constructed out of magically enchanted stone. For the most part. Like any institution of science that has existed for a long period of time, the campus had undergone a number of apparent renovations over the centuries. In addition to the numerous domes and stoas, there were a few additional buildings made out of the newer coral structures added on.

We swam a short distance in to reach a large spherical chamber with small groups of students milling about. There were globes of light they congregated around, and I saw a few with food, so this was likely some sort of recreational room. This is where we met Kaldur's school friends, and they certainly were a diverse bunch. Ronal was a human looking Atlantian, whereas Lori was a full on mermaid. La'gaan looked similar to the creature from the black lagoon, with green scaly skin, fins, and massive red eyes. The unfortunately named Blubber honestly looked like a small grey whale with a flat face and arm-like fins.

Nanaue Sh'ark was a street shark. I don't care what the actually term as, the man was a goddamn street shark.

It quickly became apparent that many of them didn't know English, so the rest of my team broke off into conversation while I hung back. Blubber was chatting up Superboy and La'gaan was (somewhat surprisingly) showing an interest in Kori. M'gann on the other hand was talking to Lori, and after a few moments she shapeshifted her legs into a mermaid tail. Lori reaction to this was… polite discomfort if I was reading her correctly, and a moment later she excused herself from the conversation. _Oh dear, I supposed that was the Atlantian equivalent of 'I am not a costume'_ , I thought.

Kaldur had explained the Atlantian subspecies to me back when I was first doing medical checks for the team. Back when the continent first sank, Ahri'ahn, Atlantis's greatest mage came up with a solution that would let the Atlantian people survive: a magical gene-seed that would transform them into beings that could survive underwater, and who traits could be passed down to their children. The people who received this, the most human-like Atlantians, were known as 'purebloods'.

But, this gene-seed didn't make it to the whole population. From what Kadur said, the Sinking was so chaotic and violent that Ahri'ahn died during the fighting, and all the gene-seed copies were destroyed or heavily damaged. Since there were still plenty of people who needed to be able to live underwater sooner rather than later, mages from each city-state worked frantically to repair their seeds as best they could. None of them were good enough to replicate Ahri'ahn's work, but they found they could patch it up by using genetic material from sea animals. Each city-state worked independently on their own version, which was why there was such a wide range of subspecies.

Once everything settled down, the various Atlantian came together in… well, not harmony. They mostly just tolerated each other. Things had gotten better as the years had gone on, but it was clear that there was still some tension under the surface.

Garth and Tula swam up behind me as Kaldur came to me at the same time. He looked between me and his friends for a moment before he addressed the other two. "They seem to be getting along well. For the most part." He sighed as he glanced at the retreating form of Lori. "I fear cultural differences are unavoidable."

Tula looked a little embarrassed. "There's just a little adjustment we have to go through. I'm sure they mean well," she said, as she looked at Kori with a less than friendly glance. "Whatever the case, all of us here at the conservatory are happy to see you again so soon."

"There is still one left." Kaldur said. "What of Topo? I expected to see him here."

Garth and Tula exchanged a look before Tula looked back at Kaldur. "We have to tell you something."

* * *

A short while later we were at the Conservatory dorms. They were part of the newer coral structures and from the inside it honestly looked like a mundane apartment building. Well, if the building didn't have any stairs, in any case. The doors themselves were a line of teal ovals which drifted past us as Tula let us to the room that belonged to Kaldur's friend.

"I still find it hard to believe that the purists have become so brazen." Kaldur said was we came to a stop in front of the door. "Has the guard been informed?"

Tula's mouth pressed a thin line. "Topo doesn't want to be involved in anything else. I tried to get details out of him, but he hasn't even told me who did this to him."

I frowned. "Maybe he's afraid the guard won't believe him? Or of retribution from his attackers?"

The girl sighed. "I don't know. He didn't even want to go to the healers. I'm hoping that as an outsider you'll have better luck reaching him." Garth and Tula had informed us how Topo had been assaulted by 'purists', a group of pureblood supremacists. Judging by their reaction, this sort of hate crime wasn't common, but it was still worrisome. I managed to convince them to let me see him when I mention that I was capable of treating injuries.

Although, that was after Kaldur, Gath and Tula had to settle a little argument between the other students. I wasn't privy to it due to the language barrier, but Sh'ark had accused Ronal of being the one who hurt Topo. It almost looked like things would come to blows until Kaldur, Tula and Garth had intervened and broken everyone up.

We came to a stop in front of a specific door which Tulu then knocked, and said something in Atlantian. There was a pause before I heard something muted in return on the other side of the door. This went back and forth a few times before the door slid open on its own, and we all shuffled inside. The room was small, with a number of shelves lining the walls and a few bits of decoration and murals. And in the corner a short figure was resting in a bunk cubby, looking at as warily.

Topo was an Octopus-folk (I hoped that was the correct term), though apparently what that meant was that he had a head shaped like an entire octopus. He had a large, bulbous head with deep inset eyes, and a mass of tentacles just below them ringing around the head. The exposed skin I could see had a similar greyish mottled texture, but otherwise looked human. I would never say it out loud, but that was not what I would have expected out of a person who had mixed in octopus traits.

At the moment Topo wore a skin tight black and green suit, which he picked at nervously. Reading his expression as best I could, he seemed to look at me in confusion before looking at Kaldur in alarm, saying something to Tula. The girl tried to placate him, but he shrank in on himself. The other Atlantians looked at each other before Kaldur looked at me. "We're going to step outside. Call us if you need us." And with that they exited the room.

Topo looked at me warily as I approached. "Don't worry," I said, unsure if Topo knew English but trying to put him at ease regardless. My hand then opened up along all the seams, folding open into a medical diagnostic tool. "This won't hurt all, you'll just feel a slight tingling sensation."

He looked at me in amazement for several long seconds before he realized I was waiting for him. Sheepishly, he peeled back the top of suit his suit to reveal his torso. On his exposed chest, I could see Greek lettering branded onto his flesh. I had been told that it meant 'Impure.' I leaned in close to inspect the damage, the sensor that was my hand letting me know how bad it was. Looked to be second degree burns, but it wasn't infected thankfully. I had never worked with octopus flesh before, but from what I could tell it wouldn't be a problem.

My hand shifted again, this time into an organic grafting device. It was one of the medical tools I had first assimilated when I was introduced to the Mountain's medical lab. It applied a sort of all-purpose organic gel to wounds while stimulating the cells around the area to induce a sort of rapid healing, integrating the material and breaking down any dead cells in the area. It wasn't instantaneous, and it would be a few days before the gel was properly converted into new cells, but it would clean up the area in the meantime.

 _Good thing I can make this gel out of seaweed_ , I thought to myself as I took it slowly, carefully knitting his flesh back together to make sure that his biology was taking the graft as well as it could. Topo twitched every so often, but he didn't appear to be in any pain, so I continued on in silence.

"What are you?"

I looked up at Topo in surprise, who was looking back at me with a curious expression. I guess he did know English. "Complicated." I said as I looked back down at his injuries, wondering how to explain it. "I guess you could say I'm person inside a machine."

"I… don't even know what that means." He said. "You… fight beside Kaldur right? Up on the surface?"

"Yep. We're teammates."

"Can… you tell me about it? I've heard he goes on all kinds of adventures on the surface."

I arched an eyebrow. Given the tone, seemed like he was a bit of a fan. "Well, most of our missions are classified… but I guess there are a few things I can talk about. Like the first time we fought together. See, shortly after I joined the team, there was this android call Mister Twister…"

As I talked I continued my work on the burn on his chest, grafting the gel material into his skin. By the time I was done, the burn was much less noticeable, far more faded and matching his current greyish skin tone. "Alright, that should do it. Your body's natural healing should take over from here, though I would advise you go see an actual doctor just to be sure. I've never worked with skin quite like yours."

Topo withdrew into himself a little. "Doctors would ask questions…"

"That's kind of their job." I remarked. "Why is that a problem?"

"It might cause more problems for me. If they found out." He looked off to the side. "I just wanted to be left alone. I-I tried to get away, but I wasn't fast enough."

 _Guessing he doesn't have a water siphon_ , I thought to myself. "Purebloods really are that much faster, huh?" I asked. It was something I hadn't realized until I had seen a few in motion myself. If I focused, I could see how the current of water moved around Atlantians when they swam. And I noticed that there was something different about the purebloods: each movement they made displaced a far greater amount of water than they proportionally should, giving them much more speed and mobility than should be mechanically possible. I guess that they had some form of… tactile hydrokinesis they used while swimming. "Do the students here do physical training in addition to magical?"

"Yeah, and they were much better at it than-" Topo said before he gave a start, realizing what he admitted. "Wait, you can't go around questioning students! They'll know I said something!"

I sighed. "Alright, I'm not going to pretend that I understand the social dynamics down here, but is there really no authority figure you can go to?"

Topo calmed down a little and looked back off to the side, his hands knitting together. "Maybe… but even if people believe me, they have friends. But if I keep my head down…"

"Look," I said as I put my hand on his shoulder. "I'm not saying that it'll be easy, or even that it won't cause you trouble in the future. But if you do nothing, what's going to change? How do you think the people who did this to you will react to that?"

"They'll leave me alone?" Topo said hopefully. "I mean, what else would they want from me?"

"Very few bullies leave their targets alone if they try to ignore them." I replied. "And these aren't bullies, these are violent racists who committed a hate crime. If they're not stopped they'll do it again. Maybe not to you, but to someone else."

The Atlantian cast his eyes down. "But I'm not strong enough…"

"So get help." I said. "Everyone needs help sometimes. There's nothing wrong or shameful about that. And I know for a fact that you've got people you can count on. They're waiting for you out in the hall right now."

Topo was silent for a long moment. Finally, he pushed himself off the shelf. "Thank you. For healing me. And for… everything else." With that he moved past me and out the door, much to the surprise of his friends waiting out there.

I listened to them talk for a few seconds before I looked up, letting out a long breath. "Adulting is haaaarrrrrd."

* * *

By the time I was done, I had only a little while to actually explore the Conservatory before we had to head back to the Palace, and to be honest I didn't get much out of it. Given the late time of day most of the actual teachers had gone home for the day, so there was no one for me to really talk to or show me anything. As well, the libraries were less than useful to me, seeing as how everything was written in Greek.

Still, while I was a little disappointed, the fact that I was now going to meet the headmistress more than made up for it.

The library of the Royal Palace provided an interesting contrast to the one I swam though at the Conservatory, from an architectural standpoint. While the Conservatory had been expanded and rebuilt over the millennia, the palace had stayed more or less the same since the Sinking. So while it shared the wide open spaces and pillars of the others I had seen, the one I found myself swimming through then still had evidence that it used to belong on the surface. There were still railings and stairways, for instance.

The rotunda I swam into had a number of tables near the scroll shelves with a wide open pace in the middle. There looked to be a complex arcane circle etched into the floor in the center. I noticed that the currents of water in the area were slightly different than the water surrounding it, flowing up towards the domed ceiling.

Standing just outside the circle was Mera, who turned to look at me as I entered. "Ah, Jacob. Had a good time, I hope." Her gaze flickered to my shoulder and she quirked an eyebrow. "And have made a new friend I see."

I looked to my shoulder to see that Galileo the octopus had started shifting about again. "I keep letting him go and he keeps showing back up."

"She." Mera absentmindedly corrected as she swam around the edges of the circle, inspecting line work. "Given the larger size, that's a female."

I blinked at looked down at my shoulder buddy. "Oh. Guess I can't keep calling you Galileo, huh?" Would Gali work? My thoughts drifted to a certain fictitious cyborg with pouty lips, and I nodded to myself. "Gali it is then."

Mera hummed as she swam up to me. "Well, you'll have to put her aside for the moment. The analysis artifice used by our researchers works best when the subject of study is isolated. Though in this instance I will be in the circle with you to insure precision. Gali will have to wait outside."

Something seemed slightly off about that, but I pulled the mimic octopus off my shoulder and placed her on a nearby table. "Stay." I said. The octopus gave me a critical look, but remained where she was. I noticed that the few other people milling about in the rotunda were also clearing out for some reason. A glance towards the queen showed that she was making specific gestures in their direction.

Once everyone cleared out of the rotunda and I reentered the circle, and Mera sweep out her arms. Glowing, sweeping lines came into being on her limbs, crawling up her shoulders and onto her face as energy flowed out through the pattern beneath us. Blue light formed a shimmering curtain around the edge of the circle, and I felt the quality of the water around us change as if we were now in an enclosed space.

"There, we can talk. So," Mera said as she turned to me fully. "Are there any comic books of me where you came from?"

I froze where I was. "I… what are you talking about?"

"Come now, my husband told me of how you first came to this world." She said as she waved her hand. "I must say the idea that there are novelizations of our lives in an alternate world is both fascinating and mildly terrifying."

I was silent for a moment as I considered what to say. If she already knew that much I didn't see much of a point in denying it. Still… "I wasn't aware that you were included in that list of people who were briefed about my… origin."

"Well, strictly speaking I shouldn't know." She remarked, "But my husband trusts me. And you need not worry about me revealing your secrets."

That didn't entirely put me at ease (and I was going to give Aquaman a stern talking to the next time I saw him), but for now it seemed best to just roll with it. "I see. So, is there something you want to talk about aside from quasi- fictitious writings of you?" I asked as I gestured to the simmering curtain around us.

"Just if there was anything relevant to Atlantis. My husband summarized the report as best he could, but it was a bit… rambling."

My mouth quirked a little, "To be honest, I don't really have anything for you. I picked up what media I could, but I was never really a comics guy." There were only two things that came to mind, and I honestly didn't want to tell her about Flashpoint. The whole Atlantian-Amazonian war and everything that led up to it seemed stupid and out of character to me, and even if it did happen the time-travel shenanigans would cause her to forget that I told her.

So, that left the other thing I had been wondering about since the throne room. "There might be one thing." I said. "Orm. The one time I saw him in a story line, he was a warmonger who usurped the throne and tried to kill your husband and infant son."

Mera was taken aback, and her hand went to her belly. "Really? You are certain?"

I held up my hands. "Yes, but _please_ don't take what I say as absolute truth. There's no reason that the Orm you know couldn't a perfectly fine person."

Mera still looked worried for a few moments before she shook her head. "I see. Well, thank you for telling me. I shall have to keep my eyes open in the future." She then noticed that I was giving a questioning look to the hand on her stomach, and she smiled in return. "I am expecting."

"Oh! Congratulations!" I said cheerfully, before I realize that a few seconds ago I had just given her a quasi-prophesy of doom for her unborn child. "Err, maybe we should move on."

"Perhaps you're right. One last thing though." Mera gave me a serious look before her lips quirked upwards a bit. "You still haven't told me if there are any comic books about me and my people."

"Well, technically they are about your husband."

"Hmm, typical." She said with a sigh, but there was no heat in it. "So, what is this magic that you were talking about earlier?"

I gestured vaguely. "Well, for some context, after I first became what I am now, I didn't have any magical ability. As far as Kaldur could tell I had about as much magic in me as a toaster. But then something… happened to me, and now I'm pretty sure I have the magic of technomancy."

Mera arched an eyebrow. "Technomancy…" she rolled the word around in her mouth. "The art of controlling machines? Curious, I have never heard of something like this. Atlantian technology does allow those with magic to command it directly, but I imagine that you mean more mundane technology?"

I nodded. "It seems to work best on computers, or things powered by energy. It does technically effect more purely mechanical systems as well, but it's next to impossible. Like, the parts have to be absolutely minuscule for me to actually do anything to them. I can still… get a feel for them though, if that makes sense."

Mera hummed. "I should like to see an example, though we don't keep electronics down here for obvious reasons. Have you tried applying this craft to Atlantian technology?"

"Yes, on Kaldur's waterbearers, but the results were… odd. I could get a basic idea of the internals and the mechanisms, but to me they didn't make sense or seem to do anything when combined together. It was like… looking at blueprints of several random devices merged together, and with some pieces missing." I imaged that magic is what filled in those gaps, but even when I scanned them while in use it didn't make sense to me. There was just something… more.

"Well, is there anything you can show me?" She asked. "Something small, a bit of light or sound perhaps?"

"My magic doesn't really do flashy and obvious. Well, except for maybe this." I held my arm out to my side as I dedicated almost the entirety of its mass to running Core-Loop Reinforcement Protocol. The blue circuit pattern that I associated with my data form traced itself over my limb reaching all the way up to the side of my face. I could still use my magic on myself, after all. "This happens whenever I really try to push my abilities to their limit. The pattern goes fractal all the way down, if you look close enough."

Mera hummed and held out her hands, the curving tattoos lighting up along her arms as she hovered her hands over my limb. As she did so, a number of arcane glyphs and sigils made out of light appeared in the water around my arm. Mera hummed as she analyzed the ever shifting glyphs. "Interesting… There is certainly a flow of mana present, but I've never seen it like this. A mage's mana flow normally should be constant and uniform, but this is almost… patterned. If I wasn't seeing this myself I would say that it is impossible."

"Well, remember, I'm not biological." I said. "However I'm channeling this is probably different from how normal mages do it." While I said this, I noticed something on the edge of my perception, a slight shift in Core-Loop Reinforcement Protocol. Was I getting new data?

Mera hummed again. "Perhaps this is a purely soul based expression of magic? I heard there are mystics capable of such but I have never met one myself." She looked at me. "What exactly is this… spell you are using? I can tell there is a purpose behind this this but I can't tell what."

"It's something that reinforces my mind against outside control. I developed in in response to a techopath I ran into." As I said this, Mera drew several lines of light from my arm to the glyphs around them, which then expanded and displayed more data to the queen. And as this happened, that strange tickling sensation increased. Was… I sensing the magic Mera was using? If that was the case, why didn't I get this sensation when I was testing Kaldur''s weapons? Maybe because it's directly targeting me?

Experimentally, I focused the Algorithm on that sensation, just to see what would happen. For the most part, the answer was nothing. It wasn't… solid enough, nothing to latch onto, like air. On a whim I briefly increased the random functions I was doing a massive amount, seeing if anything stuck.

The glyphs floating around my arm suddenly twitched a bit before returning to normal. Mera and I blinked in confusion, and on an impulse I did it again. And again the glyphs went static before settling. "Are… you doing that?" Mera asked.

"Yeah," I replied. "I felt what you were doing and… poked at it? To be honest, I'm not sure what I'm doing."

"You seem to be 'scrambling' the data the spell is trying to collect." She remarked. "To be fair I am not sure how to interpret what I am seeing normally, but I am not sure how that is possible."

"I… think my magic is very good when it comes to manipulating information." I said, thinking about my various executions to dataspace.

This caused there eyebrows to rise. "Logosmancy? Many researchers have speculated of such an art, though it's still theoretical. Many hope to find an easier way of gaining knowledge than simple hard work and logic." She pulled back and looked to the side, speaking to herself. "Then again, I know that I would like a better way to pull information out of the Blue."

I blinked. The way she had said that… "The… Blue?" I asked. "Is that like the Green and the Red?"

Mera suddenly brightened. "You know of them! Oh of course you do, you were there during the incident in Louisiana." She moved closer to me. "What do you know about them? Did you speak to anyone who is connected with them? Oh! Did you meet that Champion of the Green I was told about?"

I leaned back from the woman's intensity, and she realized what she was doing. "Oh! I'm sorry!" For the first time since I met her, the queen looked abashed. "I got a little carried away. It is rare that I meet someone new to discuss the more mystical matters of magic."

"Shouldn't you have plenty of those at the Conservatory?" I asked.

"Not as many as you'd think." She replied. "Atlantians have had millennia to refine and hone our form of magic. It is so reliable and measured that any of our citizens can use it, with the tattoos and the right training." She let out a breath and looked to the side wistfully. "And yet, for all the benefits of formalizing our magic, something is lost in exchange. A certain loss in potential, of wonder."

"Have you considered trying to bring back these… more mystic arts to Atlantis?"

"Yes, but few would have the potential for it. While all Atlantians have the potential for magic, most need assistance in coaxing it out. That is why the tattoos were developed." She shifted a little. "I have managed to learn some things from the ancient scrolls the city Thierna Na Oge possesses, though my knowledge is far from extensive. And our relationship with those mystics has always been tenuous."

I tilted my head. "Is that where you learned of the Blue?"

"Ah, in part, but much of it has been passed down the royal line. The Blue, or the Clear as it is sometimes known, is an elemental force in the same vein as the Green and the Red. But strictly speaking, it is not an elemental Kingdom."

I looked at her blankly for a long moment, and she took this as a sign to go into lecturer mode, "The elemental Kingdoms, as I am sure you are aware, are named as such because they are representative of the kingdoms of life. The Red for Animalia, the Green for Plantae, and so on. I believe the Grey is the term for Fungi, but it has been a while since I have studied the subject."

"How many types of elementals are there?" I asked.

"As many as there are concepts." Mera replied. "Well, perhaps not in practice, but in theory an elemental can be an embodiment of just about anything. Of course, some are much more common, more… prominent than others. If enough of the same kind exist and congregate, they form Parliaments among themselves. As life evolved and diverged, so did the elementals that represented them, and they took their colors as part of that."

"So… why is the Blue is not a Kingdom?" I asked.

"There are four Parliaments that are comparable, or perhaps even exceed, those of the Kingdoms. The Parliaments of Stones, Flames, Vapors, and Waves. These existed even before life. You know, I have a theory that they formed in relation to the states of matter-" She cut herself off and shook her head. "Sorry, not important at this juncture. My point is that they are more elementals of matter and energy, rather than life. They predate the structure that life uses. They are not Kingdoms so much as… Primordials."

"So, I'm guessing the Parliament of Waves is the Blue?"

"Yes, and it is the only one of the four that has a 'color'. The Blue is an exception to this for a very simple reason: all life on this world started within it. Even if it is not its main preview, being the origin of life leaves a strong connection. Enough of one that it is capable of influencing the life that dwells within it. In fact, The Royal line of Atlantis formed a pact with the Blue some millennia back." She sighed. "Though the means of properly entreating it have been lost to time. It has been my job to muddle through as best I can."

She was silent for a moment before she looked at me with a start. "Oh, look at me rambling when I promised to help you." She frowned before she dismissed the glyphs around me. "Unfortunately, I am not sure if I can at the moment. I don't have anything to relate your magic to, and I can't rely on you using it on yourself for a good measurement. I'll have to find something for you to use it on first. Hmm, perhaps a trip to the surface is in order? Ah, but it is so hard to get away."

"Ah," I said, a little disappointed. "So, I guess there's nothing else to be done?"

She hesitated for a long moment before she shook her head. "There is one more thing I would like to try." She said, and to my surprise the tattoos along her arms stopped glowing before they faded entirely. "Something a bit more… mystical." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, going still in the water. A moment later she opened them, eyes glowing a scintillating white as she chanted.

I didn't recognize words, but I felt the change in the water around me. Different than before, this felt… deeper. Like a heartbeat thrumming around and through me. Colors deepened, sound fell away, and things took on a dreamlike quality. I felt myself sway in the water a bit, and my body lit up with blue lines in resonance with that heartbeat. With each pulse I felt something different pass through me.

 _The fall of hammers on metal, echoing in time._

 _The clacking of gears, each fitting into the next._

 _The thunder of pistons, burning forward with each step._

 _The hum of electricity, flowing in an intricate dance._

 _The harmony of waveforms, becoming something real._

Then, quick as it came, it left, and it was just Mera and I floating next to each other. "What… was that?" I said.

"A spell meant to reveal the true nature of things." The queen was breathing deeply, but she seemed excited as she looked at me. "I can't say I used it with any skill, but oh I have definitely never seen anything like you." She collected herself a little before she continued. "It is not just machines that you are aligned with, that is only a part. It is more than that, a drive, a progress, culmination of material and process that makes something greater than its parts."

I was silent for a long moment before I said "So, technology then?"

She blinked and looked at me. "I suppose so, yes. I am sorry I can't be more helpful, but for now all I can suggest is that you don't make the same mistake many of my kinsman do. Don't try to reduce your magic to its smallest bits and reduce it. You can do more."

I was silent, thinking over that sensation of something greater. "…Thank you. This has helped me a lot."

"A pity I could not be of more use," She said, blinking blearily. "But using magic without my tattoos takes its toll on me. I suppose I should turn in for the evening." She smiled at me. "Anything else I can help you with before I retire?"

A thought occurred to me, and I suddenly felt a little sheepish. "Ah, well, I guess there is one thing."

Mera tilted her head at my hesitance. "What is it?"

"Well, I probably should have asked this earlier, but the last time I was thinking about it didn't know any truly proficient mages that could answer this for me, and it's honestly slipped my mind until now but…" I trailed off for a moment before I continued in a slightly quieter voice. "Do I have a soul?"

Mera was taken aback by the question. "What? How can you possibly consider that you don't?"

"…I got eaten by a swarm of nanomachines." I said. "There's no trace of my original body at all. Hell, I'm still not sure how my mind survived intact. I… I don't know how souls work."

Mera looked at me for a long moment before her expression softened, and she touched my arm. "Jacob," as she said this, her eyes glowed slightly, and I felt that familiar energy flow into me. Blue circuit patterns lit up in response, and she continued. " _This_ is your soul. The non-physical part of your being. It is not like any I've seen, but it is as alive as soul that I have ever seen."

"…but, I didn't have it when I first became like this. What about before then?"

She sighed. "Your soul does not feel new or unformed, if that is what you are wondering. Unique, to be sure, but I have never heard of a soul… being copied from an impression of a mind, as you seem to be implying. Most likely, your soul simple became _more_. Regardless of anything else, this is you."

I took a deep breath before I nodded. "Thank you."

* * *

With everyone else asleep I had spent the rest of the night just wandering about the city seeing what I could. And mulling on what I had learned. To be honest, some time to myself was just the sort of thing I needed, and Poseidonis provided ample vistas to just watch the life of the city ebb and flow.

Considering that M'gann and Superboy had school, my teammates work up fairly early so that we could return the Mountain with enough time for them to prepare that morning. As we made our way through the Palace to get Moya though, I noticed that Kaldur was looking a little disturbed. "Something wrong?" I asked.

He frowned a little. "There was an… incident last night."

 _Oh god, please let me go to just one place without things going horribly wrong_ , I thought before I said. "Which was?"

"Topo identified the student who assaulted him. One of them was Ronal, who as it turns out was part of the purist movement." He sighed. "He somehow learned of this before the guard could move. As a result, there was a small skirmish between the guard and several purist cells across the city. Fortunately it was very disorganized, and was quelled quickly. I did not want to bring it up, as I didn't want you to see this aspect of my home."

Slightly relieved that it was already dealt with, I put my hand on Kaldur's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, man. We've got our fair share of assholes on the surface too."

=====A=====

A/N: Once again proving I'm terrible at trying to write short chapters.

I will note that all the stuff about 'colors' and 'Primordials' are things I took a very liberal hand with compared to what is canon.


	41. 10-4

=====A=====

I wouldn't say that I was a recluse exactly, but compared to my fellow superheroes I didn't get out too much. Between all of my training, side projects and working with Ted and Serling, I spend most of my time in the Mountain or in one of Ted's labs. New York City is where I showed up the most, and the people there were jaded enough that they got used to me pretty quick.

The same couldn't be said for the town of Bailey, New Hampshire. As I stood just off the beaten path near a shady copse in the town park, there were a few people milling about giving me questioning looks. None had approached me, seemingly a bit too nervous to talk to the large, armored grey man just standing around. Though that may have also been because I wasn't the most intimidating person there.

"They should be here soon." Superman said as he scanned the surrounding area. "I still don't see them though."

[If these New Gods have a Motherbox, they may choose to arrive via Boom Tube.] Rommie remarked, pausing in her puttering around the copse to beep at Superman.

He looked at the sphere before glancing at me, and I said, "They might be teleporting in. Since Batman got off on the wrong foot the last time, they probably want to have a bit more control of the situation."

It had taken Batman a few days to get everything together for this meeting. Not so much the meeting itself (the two New Gods were in the phone book after all), but setting up a reasonable cause for how we would know who they were. Once everything was in place, Batman went to meet with them after one of Mister Miracle's shows but had run afoul of his manager Oberon instead. Some things were said and some looming was done, so when the two New Gods walked in on them… yeah, it didn't look good. Long story short, they didn't care for Batman and were distrustful of him. So, rather than talk to them himself, he suggested that they meet with different members of the League.

Which is why Superman was here. I had suggested that the League send someone that was… similar in nature to the New Gods, and that narrowed the list down to Superman and Wonder Woman. And since the latter was busy with UN matters at the moment, that left the former. Rommie was here as we figured she'd like to meet some of her fellow New Genesians and ask for a ride home. And I was there for my meta-knowledge and to translate Rommie if needed.

They had agreed to meet us in a park near their home. A little more public than I was expecting, but I was sure they had a reason for it. For the moment though, I couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable. I looked to Superman- no, never mind. I just needed to wait till they got here.

"See any threats?" Superman asked out of the blue, his eyes sweeping back and forth.

"Ah, no," I replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Because you stand perfectly still when you're stressed."

I looked at Superman and blinked. "What?"

"You usually move like an organic human," He continued. "But when you're focused on something you stop making all the normal micro-movements that people normally do. You've been like this since we met up."

"Oh, it's nothing. It's just been a while since I've had people give me weird looks."

"That doesn't explain before we got here. We've been on patrol before and you haven't acted like this." He arched an eyebrow. "Something you want to talk about?"

I looked at him for a long minute, mulling over just what to say. Eventually I asked "Do… you know how many people died in Biayla?"

The man went still and he stared at me evenly. "Why don't you tell me?"

I blinked as I stared at him. "Superman, I'm not being rhetorical, I'm genuinely asking because I don't know. I've been trying to get news about it, but Biayla's not reporting anything for obvious reasons. I didn't actually see anyone die." Everything I had attacked during my assault had been some piece of hardware or another. Even the people in the tank had been alive (if keeling over from overheating) when I pulled them out. Theoretically the crew in the other tank I took down could have gotten out on their own. But all things considered…

Superman's expression briefly changed to surprise before it shifted to something softer. "According to Batman, there were sixteen fatalities."

I looked down. I wasn't expected him to tell me that there were, by some miracle, no deaths at all. But hearing it didn't feel great either. "Thanks. I needed to know that."

"…Do you regret it?"

I looked back up at him, my brow furrowed. "…I wish things had been different. Some of those people that died probably didn't deserve it. And a few probably left a family behind. I… should be aware of consequences of what I did, at the least."

Superman stepped towards me. "That is a… thoughtful way to look at it, but you didn't answer my question."

I sighed before I gave the man a look. "So, I guess we're doing this, huh?"

He arched an eyebrow, but I saw the hint of a smirk. "I merely asked why you were so tense. You were the one who started taking about your latest mission."

"It just occurred to me that you might know the answer to something that had been bothering me." I said as I gestured. "Look, if you have something to say, we can talk about it. But can you please just say what's on your mind rather than ask leading questions?"

He raised his hands. "I just want to know if you're alright."

I stared at him for a moment before I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Sorry. I'm being difficult." I was silent for a long while, staring off down the street. Finally, I gave a small laugh and shook my head. "It's not that big of a thing. It's just… you're the most iconic superhero. Ever. Odds are that anytime someone thinks of the word superhero, they think of you."

He didn't say anything, so I continued as I stared to pace a bit. "It's hard not to think about a situation and ask yourself, 'What would Superman do', especially now that I'm a superhero myself. And I never really expected to live up to that standard." I stopped and looked back at him. "But it still doesn't feel good to have confirmation. And with you here it's hard not to think about that."

Superman frowned. "Regardless of my own feelings on the matter, you shouldn't hold me as some kind of gold standard to superheroing. I'm just doing my best, as I'm sure you are."

I hummed. "Thanks for that, but I'm still a little disconcerted. Mostly because how... accepting of the whole killing thing I am. You know, I used to feel kinda bad about those Psions I killed during my escape, but now…" I trailed off.

"From what you said, that was in self-defense, shortly after you gained your powers." Superman countered. "By comparison, this was the first time you've made the active choice to use lethal force."

"No." I said, "Amazo."

"…We never confirmed that the android was self-aware."

"Doesn't really matter." I said. "In that moment, when I consumed it… I didn't care if it was alive or not. I was just so angry for what it did... even if I knew it was sapient, I still would have killed it. And as time's gone on, it's been getting easier not to think about it. I… don't know what that says about me."

"Have you told Black Canary any of this?"

"Black Canary could have asked." I sighed. "I've been going over the whole thing in my head, ever since Biayla. If I could have, should have done it differently. And you know what? In spite what I've just said, if put in that situation again… I would still do it. I'm the one responsible for those kids. If I'm not willing to do everything I can for them, what good am I?"

Superman was silent for a long moment. Then he walked over to me, and put a hand on my shoulder. "Jacob, I'm not going to condemn you for what happened. I don't like that you were put into that situation to begin with, and I don't like the outcome, but I don't doubt your intentions. You wanted to save your team, and you're willing to accept the consequences of doing so. So long as you hold on to that desire to be the best you can, you can still be the hero you want to be."

In spite of myself, I felt a smile cross my lips. "Thanks, Superman."

[I believe in you too!] Rommie exclaimed. [You can achieve whatever it is you set out to do!]

I looked over… and stopped as I blinked. "Rommie, what are you doing?"

[You said to be inconspicuous.] The sphere replied as she hid behind a nearby picnic table. Or at least tried to, considering she was much larger than it.

"…I think you can find a better hiding spot."

Rommie looked at me for a long moment before she rolled over to a nearby bush. She settled behind it, her bulk clearly showing from behind the leaves, [Have I decreased my perceptibility?]

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Try again."

Rommie then rolled behind a tree that wasn't even half her width. [Will this obfuscation do?]

"Oh my God how are you a Scout Class?!"

Superman chuckled, and after a moment I couldn't help but snort myself. I let out a breath to relax a bit. Maybe I could-

There was a loud _thump_ behind me, and my various internal sensors went wild with strange readings. I turned in time to see two figures walk out of the telescoping portal of light and energy. "Hmp. You really do have a New Genesphere," The woman said as she strode up to me.

For the first time in a long while, I had to tilt my head up to look someone in the face. "Wow they build them bigger where you come from."

Big Barda replied with an arched eyebrow, partially covered by the great helm she wore. The seven foot tall woman was covered head to toe in armor, a sort of grey hexagonal scale mesh underneath several pieces of yellow plate on her chest and waist. She had braces and greaves that matched her plate, and a crimson cape draped over her shoulders. She cut a suitably impressive figure, as expected for a woman who commanded the Furies.

Standing a short distance behind her was Mister Miracle, clad in his full red and gold body suit. His green, high collar cape provided an interesting contrast to his wife. He gave me a look before he said, "And I believe that where we came from is the topic of discussion for today. Though I am afraid I'm not familiar with you…"

"Machina." I provided. "I was part of the team that first found Rom- the New Genesphere."

Superman stepped forward. "I hope you don't mind him being here. Machina is briefed on what we're discussing today, and is one of our experts in alien technology."

I'm… really not, but thanks for the vote of confidence.

Barda looked at me for a moment before she turned to Superman. "How do you know about us?" Barda said forcefully, her eyes boring into his. "We came to the planet because it was an isolated backwater, so you knowing who we are is… concerning." The way she enunciated that last word made it clear how she typically handled led things that concerned her.

Superman calmly replied "We have several Green Lanterns, and the Lantern Corps is aware of New Genesis and Apokolips." He said, using explanation that Batman had come up with. "After certain recent events, our Lanterns got permission from the Guardians to access some of their records on notable New Gods. The League then did cross referencing with our own database to see if we had any potential matches, and you came up."

It was a relatively believable explanation, at least for anyone who didn't know how the Guardians operated. In truth, I wasn't entirely sure that the Guardians would be forthcoming with info on the Fourth World. I always got the impression that they liked to politely ignore its existence altogether. Still, it was unlikely that the two in front of us would know any better either.

Mister Miracle hummed. "I see. So this was a recent development then." His eyes flickered over to Rommie, who was still 'hiding' behind a tree. "Though I can guess, what exactly brought the New Gods to your attention?"

Superman looked to me, and I took over. "On a recent mission we discovered that one of the nations on this planet seems to be getting technology from an extra-terrestrial power. Considering one such bit of technology was Rommie here, and that she herself has identified the culprit, it's pretty clear that Apokolips is trying to make a play for Earth."

Barda cursed in a language that that would have made my hair stand on end if I was still capable of it, and Rommie actually rolled back a little. When she finished the woman turned to her husband and said "I knew this peace was too good to be true. We need to leave as soon as possible."

Mister Miracle however held up a hand. "Clearly they don't know that we're here yet, so we have time." He looked to me. "Do you know what Apokolips is after? What their plan is?"

"Aside from general conquest of the planet? No." I replied. "And to be honest, I'm just inferring that from what Rommie told me and what we know of Darkseid already. Look, I know this is likely disruptive for you lives here, but we need to ask for your help. If only to borrow Motherbox for a few minutes."

Mister Miracle glanced down at his waist, at the device attached to his belt. It was a simple grey box the size of a large Walkman, covered in New God circuity, just like how I remembered from the comics. "I assume you mean to contact New Genesis," before looking back at me. "That is your intention, correct? Because I don't think it will go as well as you think."

"I'm not expecting High Father to send an army our way, but any kind of assistance would be appreciated."

Mister Miracle and Barda looked at each other before looking back at me. "New Genesis and Apokolips are in a state of 'peace'," Barda said. "They have to be very careful when it comes to overt action or the treaty will be broken."

"And kidnapping a New Genesian native and throwing her to some allied third party doesn't count as 'overt action'?"

"No." She replied flatly. "It's a machine. Its memories could be altered relatively easily. Apokolips is toeing the line, but they haven't crossed it yet. "

Superman stepped forward. "Is there any action they will take? I have been told that the New Genesians are a peaceful people, but surely they would have some response to knowing that our world is under threat?"

Barda pressed his mouth in a thin line. "High Father… would appreciate the intel, at the very least. But depending on the exact level of threat to the planet and said planet's ability to defend itself, he may do nothing. Apokolips has been doing this like this for millennia, and there are countless proxy battles and covert action that hold his attention at any moment. He'll have to be convinced of this planet's strategic worth before he commits resources to it."

Mister Miracle paused before he turned to his wife. "Then maybe we should convince him."

She turned on him in surprise. "What? Scott, you can't be serious."

"Don't you like this planet?" He countered. "It's been quite well to us."

"Well, yes, but I liked it because of how quiet is was." She insisted. "With Apokolips's attention now here, I doubt it will stay that way. Source, we haven't even been to New Genesis in over a century!"

As the two talked, some of my more exotic sensors started picking up faint energy readings. At the same time I felt something… _tapping_ on me. Not physically, but in a way that felt familiar.

"A good time to visit then." Mister Miracle replied before his tone softened. "Come on, Barda, don't we owe it to the place that has been our home to at least ask?"

The woman waffled a little before she caught the smile that her husband was giving her, and let out a sigh. "Ah, I hate it when you do that."

"Do what?" He asked innocently.

"Charm me into caving." She said roughly, but there was a hint of a smile on her own face. She then looked at me. "Alright, we'll talk to High Father. Anything specific you want to ask?"

I gave a start. "Huh? Oh, sorry, excuse me for one moment." With that, I turned my head towards the rectangular box at Mister Miracle's waist. "You going to keep poking at me, or are you going to buy me dinner first?"

In response I heard a feminine voice laugh, the quality of which was, dare I say it, motherly. [Apologies. You are the first machine spirit I have encountered on this world. I hope you do not fault me for taking a look at such an interesting specimen as yourself.]

It was hard to describe how… smooth the communication was. Like Rommie, it wasn't a voice so much as intent and tone parsed into words. Compared to the New Genesphere though this had much more subtlety and texture to it. "Well, traditionally you say hello before you look quite so thoroughly, but I'll let it slide."

Mister Miracle looked at me in surprise. "You can understand Motherbox?"

[Indeed he can, and much better than the other base machines on this world.] She said, the tone equal parts interest and curiosity. [I do hope that you have been taking care of our wayward New Genesphere.]

[He has!] Rommie excitedly rolled over next to me. [Prime Machina has shown me much about this world! He has introduced me to other machine spirits! And he has given me a personal name!]

Motherbox laughed, a mixed tone of amusement and caring. [Good to hear, little one. I know she would be happy to know that you are doing well.] I wasn't who she was referring to, but I then felt her attention return to me. [Oh, I should be more proper for a Prime. I am Motherbox. Happy to meet you.]

I hummed. "And to you, but while I appreciate Rommie's respect for me, I'm not a Prime. We don't have that kind of hierarchy here on Earth."

[True, I would know if otherwise. Still, I can see why the little one would think of you as a Prime. You have a strong Aspect towards machines, it would make you seem much stronger and more advanced to a machine spirit who cannot see the depth. Not to say you are not strong, in your own way. You remind me a great deal of Motherbox.]

The way that she said that told me she wasn't talking about herself. A difference in tone and intent, specific to the one she was referring to. "Is… she focused on technology too?"

[Yes, she's responsible for rapid prototyping and manufacture, as well as systems integration. I believe the little one is of her lineage.] I felt a slight tingle as she took another 'look' at me. [Though I could not say what your Paradigm is. Your nature is very strange. Many tiny insignificant minds working together seamlessly to form a greater one. And that Aspect that runs through them… Oh, Motherbox would be very interested in you.] Moxtherbox's tone turned inquisitive. [But, if I may ask, why do you commune vocally?]

I opened my mouth to respond before I stopped, and my jaw clicked shut. I hadn't had a lot of practice doing this, but… [It is a preference of mine.] I 'said', my body chittering in a certain rhythm as I did so. The vocalization wasn't necessary, but it felt right. [I was originally organic before I became this.]

[… _Very_ strange.] She intoned.

"Machina?" Superman asked questioningly.

I looked at him with an apologetic look before looking back at Motherbox. "Sorry, but I should stay audible for everyone else. And we do have other matters to attend to."

[Of course.]

I looked up at Barda. "Sorry about that. Ah, I'm sure that the League would want to have an actually meeting to exchange information and discuss details. If not in person, than by some other form of communication."

She nodded. "Very well. We should take care of this as quickly as possible." She glanced at the sphere next to me. "Which means if we have any extras traveling with us, they should come now."

I turned to Rommie, and felt a small bit of regret that she would be leaving so soon. "Well, there you have it. I hope you had a good time here, but I guess-"

[I wish to remain!]

I stopped short. "Wait, what?"

[I've seen only a fraction of what this bountiful world has to offer, but it is so fascinating!] She exclaimed. [There's so many different kind of technology and organics and cultures and things I know not anything about! And the Great Enemy seeks nefarious things with regards to it! I must stay to see and protect it all!]

Motherbox chuckled. [She is curious, as is befitting of the Scout Paradigm.]

I looked to the pair of New Gods. "Uh, is that alright? Is she allowed to stay here?"

The two looked at each other before Mister Miracle said "It's been a while, but last I knew, Scout Paradigms have the option of choosing their patrol locations, so long as they're not countermanded by someone of higher rank. Someone may come for her at some point, but for now she should be fine."

We talked a little more before the New Gods said their goodbyes, and I caught a glimpse of an idyllic-looking plaza through their Boom Tube before it closed and they were gone. Superman turned to me. "I think you handled that quite well," He said, a hint of amusement in his tone.

My mouth quirked. "Sorry, I didn't mean to take the lead so much."

"It's fine. Besides," he turned to lead us back to the Zeta Tubes. "I have the feeling you'll be doing that a lot in the future."

=====A=====

A/N: Meant to get this out sooner, but sickness held it back a few days.


	42. 10-5

======A=====

My hand traced along the forward-most ring of the ship, a faint trail of a blue circuit pattern following my fingers before fading out on the metal. As I did information danced across the back of my mind, patterns of hyper advanced circuitry and components. I was slowly understanding just how each part worked with each other, how the elaborate fitting of each complex bit fit into the whole. Laying on my back underneath the vessel, my whole vision was taking up by the machine I was studying. While I couldn't speak for the Psions' aesthetic tastes, I had to admit they could build a well-functioning ship.

I had analyzed the ship once before, but this was the first time since I had gotten my technomancy. And already I had learned so much more than what I had before. For starters, I figured out just what the ship was meant for. Near as I could tell, the vessel I had 'acquired' was a surveying ship, meant to go to planets and comets to get geological data. As such it mostly consisted of scanning equipment, and a few other things. There was a single forward facing laser cannon, along with some sort of tractor beam for dragging materials into the ship proper.

It was pretty bare bones for a space ship, to be honest. I had learned basically all I could from the ship's interior systems, this time finally cracking their holographic technology. At least their hardware. It would take a bit to learn to use it properly, but I already had a few improvements made to my own stuff. Everything else, from computer systems to life support, were things I already had or things that weren't immediately useful.

So for the moment, I was trying to make sense of what I had come to call the ship's 'gravity impellers', the things that let it, well, move. It was clear that it worked via precise manipulation of gravity waves, but exactly _how_ was… difficult to discern. All of the Psion tech I had analyzed focused on manipulation of electromagnetism, and these rings were no different. And yet somehow they were using it to do something to electric fields, which affected spacetime in some way, to affect gravity too.

 _I suppose that's yet more confirmation that Electro-Gravity interactions are a thing in this universe, at least down on the quantum level,_ I thought to myself I as I recorded the internal schema of the rings on a hard drive next to me. After all, I had confirmed that both Starfire and Superman flew via gravity manipulation, and they did so by absorbing sunlight. Probably not the exact same mechanism, but it showed that it was possible. Still, I had only been studying quantum mechanics for about a month. Understanding this technology well enough to replicate it would take a while.

I supposed I could skip all that by just assimilating it, but I was very reluctant to damage the working space ship. Building a small scale replica and assimilating that might work, but I could already tell that the construction required a number of exotic metals and compounds I couldn't easily get or replicate. This would take some time.

"Everything all right down there?" I heard a voice echo across the Watchtower's hanger. I slid out from underneath the craft to see the Flash looking at me, his eyebrow arched behind his mask. "Not to tell you how to do your mad science, but you're awfully quiet down there. I expected some mad cackling, or at least you taking the thing apart."

While I was allowed on the Watchtower to study the ship, I still needed to have a League member chaperone me, and today the Flash was that chaperone. I was mildly annoyed by lack of trust, but they were probably just following protocol. I folded my arms across my chest. "First of all, I don't need to take this thing apart to figure out how it works, so I'd rather not risk it. And secondly, who are _you_ to lecture me on mad science? You made a super-speed serum in your workplace lab because you were bored one day."

"Exactly! So you know I'm an expert on it." He said it with a grin and point. "Only reason I didn't indulge in the maniacal laughter is because I didn't want to wake up the neighbors."

"Yeah, that was what the following explosion was for."

"It wasn't that big…" he grumbled before he shrugged. "In any case, you've got a call incoming. Tune in the Watchtower's long comm frequency."

I wondered who would be calling me as I did so. I formed a holographic projector on my shoulder, and a moment later a familiar head was floating in the air next to me, though I was a little surprised to see who it was. "Lantern Stewart. What can I do for you?" I said. As far as I knew the man was still on off-world patrol. If so, this was a hell of a long distance call.

The Green Lantern nodded. "Machina. Calling to get confirmation on something." A second later a new image appeared next to his head, this one causing me to freeze. "Is this the device you said gave you your powers?"

I stared at the image of the insectile object for a long moment. It resembled a cross between a beetle and a spider, with a central chitinous body and ten long limbs. It was a dull grey in color, and looking closely I could see small ridges that lined the carapace, very similar to the ones that plagued me if I wasn't paying attention. "…Yes. I mean, I only had a couple of seconds to look at it, but that could definitely be it. Where did you find this?"

"The records of a salvaging company, in a sector close to the Vega system." He said. "Psions don't get out of Vega often, but when they do they have a few places they like to frequent to pick up interesting specimens. This one was purchased by a Psion a few months ago."

"Well, what is it? Where did it come from?"

"Not sure, the scavengers had no idea either," Stewart said, and I felt no small amount of disappointment. "This particular piece had been bouncing around from scrapyard to pawn shop around the sector; I'm still trying to hunt down where it was first scavenged from. The people who last had it didn't even know it was that valuable until the Psion showed interest in it, after a scan from its own device. If I had to guess, the Psions were the first people with advanced enough scanners to realize it was more than just a trinket."

"Well, any leads on who made this thing then? There has to be a short list for nanotech this advanced."

"A few candidates, but… most of them are dead," he said. "Nanomachines are pretty common among space fairing civilizations, but most of them only use them for isolated, specific things. The ones that don't tend to get destroyed by their own creations. The Corps has seen a number of those come and go. And considering this thing was in the hands of scavengers it's very likely the people who made it don't exist anymore."

"Fair enough, but what about Bleed-tech? The intersection of that and nanotech has to at least narrow the field, right?"

John was silent for a few moments. "Maybe. I don't know about the dead ones, but there are a handful active powers that use both. Coluans, the Reach, Qwardians… I think Kryptonians made use of Bleed technology at one point, but that was long before they turned isolationist."

My thoughts drifted to the Phantom Zone projector, and I made a mental note to ask Superman about that before I asked "What about the Guardians? Do they not use it?"

"Well, not outside of specific uses. You have to understand, there's a limited number of things you can safely do with manipulating the Bleed membrane. Power generation is the easiest one, and for all its uses there are other ways to get the same amount of energy."

"Well, considering that I could be reasonably said to be partially made out of Bleed portals, I think I'm going to find as many uses for them as possible. I'm still trying to figure out how to access my dimensional storage for something other than my own nanomachines."

"Those portals you make are only a few dozen molecules wide at most, I think that's going to be difficult." Stewart grunted. "And that's not going into the other difficulties of Bleed storage. If you ever mess up the harmonic anchor, everything gets lost between universes. Lantern Rings prefer dimensional folding for a reason." A beat. "You're not going to try poking at that stuff anyway, are you? Because you're just as liable to 'lose' yourself as anything else."

"No, no, at least not anytime soon." I said as I waved my hand. "I just want some avenues of research to start down when I get my compiler up and running. One of the biggest limits I have is my mass limit, along with my dimension storage limits. It would be nice if I could use it for other things."

"Hey, Machina!" I craned my neck back to see Flash a short distance away. "I gotta run, the Hawks will be here in a sec to take over."

I gave him a thumbs up, and an instant later he was gone in a red blur. I looked back at image of Stewart's head. "In any case, don't you at least have a guess of who made the device?"

He grimaced. "Maybe… but I don't want to talk about it just yet. Not until I'm certain. And you should be careful who you talk to about this, too."

That gave me pause. "Wait, why?"

He didn't answer immediately, instead looking to the side for a moment. "Tui, I can't just-" he cut off and grimaced, before looking back to me. "Just keep your eyes and ears open. Earth isn't as isolated as you might think." And with that the call ended.

I was left staring at the empty space with a frown on my face. _Well, that was ominous_ , I thought. John usually was pretty straight with me, but he got a bit cagey at the end there. That said, I didn't really know what to do about it considering he didn't give me much to work with. Out of the few races he mentioned, the Reach seemed like the most likely candidate from what I remembered (the fact that I had several aesthetic similarities to a Scarab Warrior had not eluded me), but I was pretty sure they were nowhere near Earth at the moment.

With a sigh I slid myself back underneath the ship, resolving to see if there was anything I could do about a possible Reach incursion later. I still hadn't talked to Ted about whether or not he was holding on to a Scarab because, well, I wasn't supposed to know about it. Hell, the League didn't know about it until I told them. And what would I even do with it if he had it? Khaji-Da was fully sapient as far as I could remember, and I didn't want to get into the habit of eating things that could think. I did have the upcoming trip to Rhelasia with Ted, maybe I could… no, I decided to let it lie until I learned more. Wanted to keep my meta-knowledge from getting me in trouble.

There was a loud crash near my head, and snapping my neck back revealed the tip of a heavy mace resting near a pair of booted feet. I hesitated before I slid back out from underneath the ship, and found myself staring up at a female form framed by a pair of tan wings. Her outfit was a mix of blacks and tans, with pieces of armor here and there. Her masked face stared down at me, small wings going back from her head. "We haven't properly met." She said. "Shayera Hol, Thanagarian Police Force." I noticed her husband Katar standing a short distance behind her, but my attention was dragged back to the woman as she crouched down next to me, her bird like eyes boring into my own. "So, with that out of the way, what's this about me betraying my people to stop them from blowing up the Earth?"

Oh boy.

* * *

Thanagarians weren't exactly just humans with wings when it came to their physiology. Oh it was close, you could be forgiven for thinking so if you had never been closer than ten feet to one. But sitting across the table from a de-masked Shayera and Katar Hol, I could see all the subtle differences between them and humans. The avian eyes were the most obvious of course, but their features were also just that bit sharper and leaner than a normal human with their build.

They could also sit perfectly still when they wanted to, which was a tad unnerving when you're getting grilled by one about details of an event that paints them in a questionable light (never mind that it hasn't actually happened in this universe). It seemed that while Shayera had read Batman's report on my meta-knowledge, she had a few more questions regarding what I knew about her and Thanagar. Which wasn't much, quite frankly. Still, we had adjoined to the cafeteria so that I could tell her what little I knew.

"…So, yeah, Thanagar's War with the Gordanians went so bad, they were willing to sacrifice Earth to win." I said. "The League, with that Shayera Hol's help, managed to kick them off the planet and stop them from turning it into a Hyperspace Express Route. Though for both betraying her people and spying on the League, she was ostracized by both of them. And… as a result, Thanagar was destroyed."

Shayera stared at me for a long moment, her gaze still intense as she judged what I had told her. Finally, she spoke. "That's bloody stupid."

That… wasn't the response I was expecting. "What?"

She gestured with her hand in front of her. "There's no such thing as a wormhole generator that destroys the planet it's on, that sounds like the worst way you could possibly make one. And even if it did have to make enough gravitational waves to tear apart the surrounding area, why couldn't you just make the structure in space? And _even if_ you had to put it on a planetoid, why Earth? There are plenty of other rocky places to put the thing, a few astronomical units aren't going to matter for the distances this thing was supposed to cover. Didn't you say Mars as uninhabited in that story?"

Her husband gave her an amused look. "I think the writers were more focused on drama than logical consistency."

"Drama is stupid."

 _She's… taking it well. I think_. I had been worried that the very intense woman would have taken more umbrage at her fictitious betrayal of her people, but it seemed she had a more pragmatic view. Of a sort. "So, that's basically everything I know. Is… there going to be a problem?"

Shayera snorted. "What? Because of what you told me? No, of course not. Alternate versions of me can make whatever choices they want, and it doesn't affect me. And it doesn't mean I'm going to start acting like her anytime soon."

"I don't know, Shayera," Katar said with a slight smirk. "I've seen you casting a few looks at Lantern Stewart when you think I'm not looking."

She turned to her husband, face set in a scowl. "One, you're paying for that later. And two, that's just window shopping, it doesn't count."

 _Aw, they do love each other_ , I thought to myself. I most certainly didn't say it out loud because I was afraid Hawkwoman would use that mace of hers on my head. What I did say was, "So, if you don't mind my asking… if you don't really care about other versions of yourself, why did you want to know more about it?"

She looked back at me. "I was worried that you might have had a few Thanagarian secrets I'd have to pry out of that mind of yours, but it's clear that even if you did know something, you wouldn't know if it was true or not." She hesitated before she shrugged. "That or you're a better liar than I thought. In which case, if I ever found out, I would drag your ass back to Thanagar and let our scientists pull you apart bit by bit."

"…I'll have you know I'm a terrible liar."

She snorted and go up from her seat. "Well, anyway, sorry about using up your remaining time on the Watchtower, but you need to head back planetside soon. And I need to go fill out some paperwork…"

Katar arched an eyebrow. "I thought you finished that already. We've been gathering everything together for the fledglings at Outpost-Thrul for the past week."

"No, this is for Batman. He insisted that I get it done before the meeting tonight." Shayera looked down at Katar, confusion plain on his face. She elaborated. "It's been moved up to accommodate some other members. Scheduling conflict. The League meeting is tonight."

Katar sighed in exasperation. "We've put off the check-in for too long, we can't skip one this one too." He looked at me for a long moment before he looked back at his wife. "You know my opinion. You can speak for me at the meeting. I'll go the check-in."

Shayera nodded, and one of her wings extended to touch Katar. The two remained still for a long moment before she retracted her wing and walked away. As Katar looked back at me, I asked "Check-in?"

He paused for a moment before he said, "Routine status update to my superiors back on Thanagar. They assigned us here to keep an eye on Earth after all. Once a month or so we go to a Thanagarian outpost to report in."

"Why can't you just send a message?" I asked.

"The transponder in our ship isn't powerful enough. And this," he gestured to the space station around us. "is not a Thanagarian facility. Communications can't be considered secure or verified, so we have to go to a nearby outpost to send our reports back."

"I wasn't aware there was one nearby."

"Well, 'near' in relative terms." He leaned back. "It's a trade world. A Thanagarian protectorate… roughly speaking. It's the closest outpost we have to Earth, so we check in there every month or so. And it's useful for picking up supplies."

That piqued my interest. "Really? What kind of things can you pick up there?"

Katar made an odd motion with his ears before he replied. "Just about any common goods you can think of, plus some extras. Ships, medical supplies, weapons, cultural artifacts and media. I think robotics have seen an uptick in the past few months too. A large number of species both comes through and lives there, so it's something of a… I think the Earth term is 'melting pot'." He tilted his head. "Why?"

I hesitated for a moment longer before I said "Can… I come with you?"

Katar gave me a quizzical look. "No, but also, why?"

"I want to buy something that I can't get on Earth. I've been wanting to for a while now, but I can't really fly my ship yet, or know where to go. But this trade world sounds like just the place I'm looking for."

"Kid, this isn't a field trip," He said as his wings spread out a little behind him. "This is official Thanagraian police business. I don't have time to babysit you while you go shopping."

I ignored the 'kid' comment and said, "You don't need to 'babysit' me, I can figure it out on my own. I know for a fact the League has translators with a whole host of alien languages in case one of them decides to make a surprise visit to Earth. And I have plenty of rare metals and metamaterials, and I'm sure there's some place on a trade planet I can exchange those for local currency. I just need a ride there and back."

Katar was not impressed, folding his arms as he leaned back. "You think you can navigate an alien planet without help?"

"Well, just a city." I shrugged. "I'm not looking to get sidetracked. And unless there's some completely wild cultural elements I need to be made aware of, I would think that a trade planet would be at least a little facilitating of someone wandering around looking for something."

He paused. "Maybe, but that doesn't mean you won't also run into trouble."

"…Do you really think I couldn't handle myself?" I asked.

He scowled. "No, I think recent events proved you can 'handle yourself' quite well. That's what I'm afraid of. The last thing we need is for you to cause an incident." He shifted in his seat and gestured. "Why don't you just ask Lantern Stewart for help? I heard you talking to him earlier, and I know you've asked him for help with things before."

"Because I don't want to just keep asking the Lanterns for favors. I want to do this myself."

"So, is your pride that important to you?"

That brought me up short. I was silent for several seconds before I sighed. "I… no. No, if it came down to it I would ask someone else to get it for me rather than getting it myself. I wouldn't like it though."

Katar hummed and leaned forward. "Really? And you'd risk potential harm, chaos, and worst of all my ire, to get whatever the Old One-damned thing yourself anyway?" I nodded, and he let out something between a laugh and a grunt. He then gave me a critical look. "Not saying yes, but you've got my curiosity now. Just what is it that is so important to you that you need to personally travel to an alien planet to get it?"

So, I told him.

=====A=====

Interlude coming up next. Sadly, I will not be doing a chapter about Jacob's adventures in space, because I didn't feel it would progress the plot much for what I had in mind.


	43. Interlude 3

=====A=====

Karas caught himself about to nervously scratch at the scales on his forearms before he forced the limbs down, covering the motion by sorting through some of the inventory on the counter in front of him. _Enough of that_ , he thought to himself. _You're almost there. Just a little more money and you're off this blasted rock_. The beleaguered merchant had arrived to Selac-4 with high hopes of starting a decent trading business he could pass on to his sons. After all, it was one of the best trade planets in the sector. And besides, it was a Thanagarian protectorate; so long as he followed the rules, he'd be much safer on the planet than braving some of the interstellar routes like his brother had.

But, the planet had not quite been as advertised. The Thanagarian garrison on the planet had been understaffed for years, and as a result organized crime had flourished. Nothing obvious or destructive, but enough that there was a stranglehold on most urban population centers. Karas had to deal the Eclipse cartel in the city he settled in, and they took their cut at every opportunity. Protection, kickbacks, 'discounts' for members, the merchant could barely survive. In fact, he wasn't; by his estimate he would be broke by the end of the cycle. He had to get off the planet before that happened.

Again, Karas glanced at the potential customer he had managed to bring into his shop. Stack, as he introduced himself, was wrapped in a dark green cloak that covered much of his form, and a hood pulled up over his head. It was not enough to hide that the biped was fully armored underneath it, though the completely blank face mask he wore put him Karas more on edge than anything else. Mercenaries in full power armor weren't uncommon on Selac-4, but Karas didn't recognize the smooth silver-grey plating, and the lack of a face made him difficult to read.

Still, the shopkeeper was not one to turn away paying customer, especially one looking for something only he could provide. In light of all the 'fees' Karas had to pay to get most common goods and materials, the merchant had taken up purchasing more exotic and niche goods in the hopes that he could get a new clientele. Earlier that day, in the course of looking for that clientele, he had stumbled across Stack asking after some very specific material.

 _Good thing I made a connection with that Data Archivist when I first got here_ , Karas thought to himself as he watched Stack manipulate the array of holographic screens in front of him, carefully analyzing the data on them. While Karas couldn't provide the physical material Stack wanted, he did have a rather large store of data on his subject of interest, which the armored man was currently perusing. Well, a set of random excerpts from it, at least. Didn't want to just hand him everything, after all.

Finally, Stack finished and closed the window. "It is excellent," he said, in that familiar cadence of a low quality translator which Karas was unfortunately used to. "I will purchase all of it."

"Good, good." Karas said carefully, hiding his excitement as he slid forward on his sinuous tail. That was a _lot_ of data the man was asking for, which meant a lot of money. "How would you like it transferred? Do you have a storage device of your own you would like to use, or would care to purchase one of my storage decks along with it? I assure you that they are all of high quality."

"I will buy a storage deck."

The two then proceeded to haggle out the price, for which Karas gleefully managed to get an excellent value on his end. He didn't fleece the man for all he was worth (a bad idea when dealing with mercenary types), but he made quite the profit nonetheless. It was surprising, though, to see a mercenary spend this much money on something other than weapons and gear. Karas had his suspicions, but he didn't feel the need to dig deeper.

With that done and money exchanging hands, the merchant slid into the back storage room to prepare the man's purchase, selecting one of his better storage decks off of the many hanging shelves. This was a rugged black box about the length of his forearm on each side, made for withstanding the wear and tear of a combative life style (a smart sale on his part). He could barely contain his excitement as the data transferred into the deck, but a sudden noise brought his attention to the door along the back wall. It sounded like there was someone shuffling outside.

Before he could investigate, the back door burst open and a group of six Korugarans rushed in, pistols and electro-blades at their hips. Karas flinched back in fear as he recognized them. _No, I was so close!_ The men spread out and took position around the cramped space, and a second later another Korugaran strode in. This one's clothes were a little finer than the others, and he had an obvious mark of an eclipse on the muddy red skin of his neck. "Karas." Their leader said with a tight lipped smile. "What have we told you about being late with you payments?"

"T-Thran! I have the money!" Karas stuttered out as he moved up to the enforcer. "I just made a huge sale! If you could-"

"Ah, but payment was due yesterday." Thran said. "Still, let it not be said I'm not a generous man. I'll just take sale… along with maybe a few items to make up for your lateness. Consider it a late fee."

"W-what?! No! That's far more than-" Karas cut himself off as he felt a blade suddenly being pressed into his midriff. It was unpowered at the moment, but the merchant knew that could change in an instant.

"Karas," Thran said with a slimy smile, his yellow eyes boring into the other man's. "The first rule of negotiating is to do so from a position of strength, you know that. So you should know better than try to dictate terms right now. Unless you want to try to get a better deal with Vecnar?"

Karas shuddered at the name and shook his head. He then trembled in silent humiliation and anger as he saw the thugs start picking items off the shelves, including the storage deck he had been preparing. The merchant closed his eyes. _I'm never getting off this planet_ , he lamented. _I'm going to die here, broke and in a gutter-_

"Excuse me." Karas opened his eyes as everyone stopped and turned to look at Stack, who had apparently wandered in the back room to see what all the fuss was about. After a long pause he pointed at the storage deck one of the thugs was holding. "That is mine. I bought it."

The thug looked nervously between the large, armored man and his boss. For his part, Thran steeped forward. "Yeah? How much is it worth to you?"

"…The amount I already paid for it."

Thran smirked. "Well, then you'll be willing to pay for it all over again, won't you?"

"…Are you being serious?"

This caused Thran to chuckle. "Position of strength, my friend. We out number you considerably, and while that armor looks very nice we have a lot of experience and fun tools for cracking armored targets. So, I suggest you either pay up or leave. Unless you think you have something else to offer?"

"Well…" Karas saw the man's cloak start to shift, and saw several unusual shapes moving beneath it. "I am full of very useful devices."

And then the violence began.

* * *

 _You know what would be nice?_ Superman mused, looking out across the table as the various Justice League members took their seats at the table. _If we could just once have the whole League meet and have it not be about business, especially business as unpleasant as this_. He barely talked to some of his fellow League members simply because he never seemed to find the time, and he imagined that was the case for many of them as well. Maybe he could organize a potluck, like the ones they used to have back in Smallville…

For the present though, his friend started the proceedings as soon as everyone was settled. "You've all been briefed on the events that occurred in Bialya," Batman said without preamble, addressing the assembled Justice League members in the conference room. "Machina has been put on standby until we decide what, if anything, we are to do with him. The floor is open for those that want it."

Green Arrow leaned forward in his seat, a frown on his face. "Kinda surprised you just put him on standby, considering he's got over a dozen fatalities under his belt. Shouldn't he be locked up right now?"

Batman looked back impassively. "Machina's actions were in the defense of his team, and he submitted to his suspension willingly. I saw no reason to confine him further." Superman knew that Batman was leaving unsaid how difficult it would be to imprison the technomophic hero if he didn't want to be confined.

"And that means he gets a pass?" The archer said incredulously. "The man killed a bunch of people! And that aside, what happens if this gets out to the public?"

"Doubtful. From what I can understand, the base lost all of its computer equipment in the assault, and has no evidence. And Bialya does not want the attention that a full U.N. investigation would bring,"

"Even ignoring the legal side of things, I don't think we can just ignore this," Flash said. "I mean, yeah, bad things can happen in this line of work, but going out of his way to destroy an entire military base, killing soldiers? That's way beyond what a superhero should be doing."

Captain Atom had a different opinion though. "I've read the report and checked the intel on that base, and I'm actually surprised at how few fatalities there were. It speaks of someone using targeted strikes rather than simply destroying everything around them."

Green Arrow snorted. "Oh yeah, the fact that he carefully and deliberately killed several people is way better than him doing it at random. Seriously, do we want someone like that on the Team with the rest of the kids?"

"Aqualad has taken life before." Everyone turned to look at Aquaman, who was looking back at Green Arrow evenly. "Recently, in Black Manta's assault, he was forced to kill three of his soldiers. Do you think that Kaldur should not be allowed on the Team either?"

The archer looked admonished, and Batman stepped in. "In Machina's own words, while he did resort to lethal force to disable the military's ability to respond, he did not 'specifically intend to kill anyone'. While difficult to verify, I am inclined to believe him by the apparent survival of Queen Bee."

To be honest, Superman had been both relieved and surprised the Queen had survived, given what Batman had told him about her little 'message'. While she had been injured when Machina rescued Starfire, the reports Batman had shown him revealed that Bee had made a public appearance yesterday. Still, she looked quite rattled to Superman's eyes, and made him wonder what exactly had transpired on that plane. He looked at Black Canary. "I heard you had a session with him soon after the mission. What did you think of him?"

Black Canary frowned. "Jacob is… stable, at the least. He didn't show any signs of distress or trauma, but quite frankly it was hard to get a read on the man. He went on a few… tangents when I spoke to him, but I couldn't tell if he was trying to deflect or that is simply how he is."

"Did you try asking him about what happened directly?" Superman asked.

Black Canary shook her head. "No, I didn't want to push the matter so soon. But I would expect that he would ether talk about it or try to avoid it."

Superman hesitated before he said "I had a chat with him when we went to meet with Scott and Barda. He opened up to me about what happened."

The woman was surprised for a moment before she looked resigned. "Of course he did. I suppose it's more difficult getting someone to open up if they don't like you." She shook her head. "In any case, what did he say?"

"In short, that he wasn't happy with what happened, but he'd still do it again if he had to."

Lantern Jordan's mouth twisted. "Well, that's better than 'they all deserved it', but it still makes me uncomfortable. The thought process of 'I did what needed to be done' can lead to some equally bad things."

Superman nodded. "Agreed. I think he has a good head on his shoulders and will probably be fine on his own, but a little extra guidance couldn't hurt. With luck, we can avoid this sort of outcome the next time this sort of thing happens."

"And what if _he_ can't?" Eyes turned to Hawkwoman, whose face was set in a stern expression. "I think he'll need a little more than just 'guidance' to prevent another potential international incident."

Batman gave her a stern glare of his own. "I fully intend to train him for how to approach situations like the one he was faced with, and in proper operational management and decision making."

"Thing is, I don't think you can." She shot back. "At least not for a covert, military scenario like that. You know how to handle things inside a city and against criminals, but military? You did not give those kids nearly enough support for an operation into enemy territory like that, especially one where they had to act in comm silence. Both Hawkman and I think the whole Team is being managed incorrectly. With that in mind, I think the mission in Bialya went about as well as could be expected, including Machina's actions."

"And what brought you to that conclusion?"

Hawkwoman was silent for a long moment, looking back at Batman. Finally, she said "Rules of Engagement specified they were to avoid alerting their target, or immediate exfiltration if they failed. That's it. In the case where exfiltration was not possible, they should fall back on other standing orders and procedures, but they had none as far as I know. No safe houses or rendezvous points outside of enemy territory either."

She straightened. "So, we have to look at this from a unit-value standpoint. The Justice League is, in my opinion, essential to global security and safety. And those kids represent potential future members. Considering how few your numbers are, losses are unacceptable. So, in short, I think Machina's actions to save the lives of his team were perfectly justified given the situation. If you wanted him to act differently, he should have been given more comprehensive standing orders."

Batman scowled. "The Team is not made of soldiers."

"Then why are you treating them like soldiers?" She shot back. "I've long since accepted the separation of police and military that this planet has, and how superheroes associate with the former, but you are clearly using this team for the latter. Covert operations require a great deal of care and skill, and are definitely outside of what this world considers policing actions. Which is to say nothing of sending them to a territory they're not supposed to be in."

"She's got a point," Green Arrow remarked, and all eyes turned to him. "I mean, that's not how I'd put it, but maybe we shouldn't be sending kids on missions like this."

"Then who do we send?" Aquaman asked. "We never would have learned about these… New Gods' interest in our world if a team hadn't been sent to Bialya. Clearly we need to have people carry out these sorts of operations, even if they have potentially distasteful results."

"This is way more than just 'distasteful'!" Green Arrow shouted back. "This is-!"

"Enough." Batman's words brought silence to the room. "We will discuss the Team itself in a moment. But first we need to come to a decision on what to do with Machina."

Green Arrow pressed his mouth into a thin line for several long moments before he sighed. "Alright, look, I guess I understand why things happened the way they did… but I do _not_ want this to become a regular thing going forward. You asked me to join the League because you wanted me to keep you lot grounded, and this is leaning in a direction I don't like. But for now… I guess we'll just have to keep an eye on our dimensional traveler."

Flash spoke up. "I've got concerns about how Machina might influence the rest of the Team. They're kids after all, and they might start looking up to him in the wrong ways. But if Canary says he's good, then keeping him off missions for a while should be enough."

"Noted." Batman said before looking at Black Canary. "Black Canary, do you think any more disciplinary action needs to be taken against Machina?"

She shook her head. "I need more time with him before I'm ready to say that he can go back on missions, but that is all."

He turned to address the rest of the League. "Does anyone here have anything else they would like to say on the matter of Machina and his actions in Bialya?" He was met with silence, and nodded to himself. "Then he will remain on standby until Black Canary clears him for duty. Now, onto the matter of the Team itself…"

* * *

"Did we lose him?!" The man at the controls yelled.

"Shut up and drive faster!" Thran shouted as he turned around in his seat, looking frantically out the back of the aircar for any sign they were being pursued. The tall buildings of the commercial district streaked by as the aircar wove its way through traffic. They were at a big risk of drawing attention from the authorities, but Thran just wanted to get away from that monster he had stumbled upon.

It was supposed to be a simple collection job, but that… mercenary was stronger and faster than anything Thran had ever seen. And the neural stunners his men carried hadn't done a damn thing. He was clearly full of cybernetic enchantments, given how his limbs opened up and revealed weaponry underneath, not to mention whatever else was hiding under his cloak.

His men had scattered soon after it became clear they we're going to win that fight, but the mercenary pursued. Thran had heard his men being picked off one by one over their comms, and now the man was after him. And the fact that he kept catching glimpse of the mercenary on nearby buildings from the speeding aircar caused his heart to race. _Who the hell is this guy?! Boss would know about any merc that strong landed planetside, why wasn't I told?!_

Thran fumbled with the communicator in the car's side console. "Vecnar! Someone interfered with pick up, a mercenary! Who is-"

A loud crash brought Thran's attention back towards the front, and to his horror he saw the armored figure of the mercenary crouched on the hood of the aircar. "Greetings!" He heard the man shout over the wind just before he plunged his hand into the hood of the vehicle. Electricity arced throughout the entire car, causing both Thran and the driver to scream and twitch. Though the haze of pain, Thran noticed that the car was quickly heading to the ground. Not quite crashing, as the vehicle's emergency landing functions activated, but it gouged a line through the pavement as it smashed into the ground and slowed to a stop.

The driver was out cold, but Thran had just enough motor function to stumble out of the downed vehicle and try to make a break for it. He didn't get very far before he felt something wrap around his legs, sending him tumbling downward. He twisted to see a grapple line attached to his legs, leading into the mercenary's arm, and was promptly reeled in like a fish. The mercenary hauled Thran up, propping him against the side of the wrecked air car. "The box. Where is it?"

 _He didn't catch the one who had it?_ Thran wondered. "It- one of the others took it! Probably back to our main base!" He said frantically. "It's probably there right now!"

The man made a sound that Thran couldn't place before he said "Where?"

Shaken as he was, Thran managed to laugh. "Like I'd tell you! Vecnar would kill me, and I'm way more scared of what he'll do to me then than what you can do to me now!"

Before the other man could say anything, they both heard a voice from inside the downed aircar. " _Respond._ " A steely voice emitted from the comm Thran had been using. " _Check, barren ground._ "

The mercenary looked at the comm before he reached out and grabbed it, ripping it from the aircar with his freehand. Thran flinched back as he saw his armored fingers change shape into spikes and pierce the sides of the device. "Talk." He ordered.

Thran looked back and forth from the man to the comm in his hands before he shouted "Bloody stars! Bloody stars!"

"… _I see. Very well_." Thran couldn't keep the grin off his face. He just gave the code that he was in trouble. Help would be arriving soon. If the Thanagarian police force didn't arrive first.

The mercenary's blank facemask looked at nothing for a long moment before he nodded to himself. "Good enough." He said, before tossing both the hardware and Thran aside, turning to walk away.

Thran look on in confusion before a thought occurred to him. "Wait, you couldn't track the source of that transmission that fast… could you?"

The mercenary looked back for a moment before he turned away, launching himself onto a nearby building and simply running up the side of it. As Thran watched the stranger disappear out of sight, he wondered if he was going to have to find new employment soon.

* * *

"In all, the operation in Rhelasia was a success." Luthor said to the collection of shadowy figures on the monitors around him. "In time, we will be able to extend our influence through both Rhelasian governments, and from there the rest of south-east Asia."

"Excellent," Savage said. "Any trouble from our 'asset'?"

"No, he behaved himself." Ra's said. "His new handler managed him quite well. I expect we'll be seeing results on his infiltration efforts soon."

"I am still dubious about Sportsmaster's replacement…" The Brain groused. "There is no denying his competence, but I still feel we brought him in too early."

"Needs must when they must," Ra's retorted. "Besides, the League of Shadows has been scouting him for some time. We have means of applying leverage if he doesn't fit in as well as we hope." He made a small hum. "I am also surprised that you are voicing reservations about a new enforcer when you yourself sponsored an untested to join our number."

Their newest member chuckled. "What can I say, the Brain knows quality when he sees it." The Calculator said smugly, his lithe shadow shrugging on the monitor. "Besides, I'd like to think the amount of bribe money I've saved you all in the past few weeks alone by managing your digital footprints has more than earned the price of admission."

"We look for more than just money, when it comes to joining us," Savage said before he begrudgingly admitted "Still, there's no denying your usefulness. In any case, I suppose that wraps up our business today, save for one matter."

Luthor glanced at the blank screen at the end of the row, absent of the last member of their number. "I had been hoping that she would have recovered enough to join us by now…"

"Oh! Are we finally going to talk about that delightful little bit of chaos in Bialya?" Klarion crowed. Luthor still wasn't sure how the Witch Boy connected to these calls, but he swore that the shadow on his monitor took strange and monstrous shapes whenever he saw it out of the corner of his eye.

"I am still not entirely sure what happened," Savage rumbled. "All I heard was that one of Bee's operations went particularly poorly when those young heroes became involved."

Calculator barked out a laugh. "Yeah, that's one way to put having one of your bases torn apart and the plane you're on getting knocked out of the sky with you on it."

When Ra's spoke he sounded far less amused by this than the other man. "If I remember correctly, she asked you for aid during this whole debacle. Why didn't you assist her?"

The shadowy image of the Calculator put up his hands. "I offered my assistance to help with that alien sphere, but she told me to butt out. She wanted to prove she could handle it on her own. So what if she comes running to me later, saying she can't actually handle it?"

Klarion tittered. "You sure you weren't just afraid to face that machine that kicked your butt the last time?"

All the screens flickered for a moment before the connection cleared up. When the Calculator spoke, Luthor could hear him seething. "I will take apart that pile of metal bugs when I'm ready, not before. And definitely _not_ when it's in the middle of a psychotic rampage."

"Curious," The Brain said. "This behavior is outside the parameters I had set for Machina. What caused the deviation?"

"Oh, I have a recording of what caused it," the Calculator said as he loaded up an audio file. "Seems Bee managed to capture their leader, and the machine is emulating human emotions. This is what she broadcast to him."

A moment later they heard Queen Bee's voice. " _Bit of a handful to be honest, but we've managed. She too underestimated the technology I possess. Now, if you are listening and haven't already been blown to bits, I command that you surrender. If you don't, well… I'm sure that my men can find a use for her._ "

Luther quietly sighed and shook his head. _Oh Bee, you never were as clever as you thought you were,_ he thought. The woman always did like to flirt with the outrageous, likely a result of having a power that turned everyone around you into sycophants. In all likelihood the woman hadn't even been serious with her threat, just wanting to provoke a reaction from the superhero. Well, she got what she wanted, it would seem.

The recording was silent for several long moments before white noise blasted from the speakers. It sounded all too much like a scream for Luthor's liking. Calculator turned it off a moment later. "And that's all there is for the next half-hour. All the equipment at the base is likewise fried or just has this on it."

Savage hummed. "Interesting… to see a hero react this violently in response to a threat. This could be a useful lever to control him."

"A lever to be used _very_ carefully." Luthor insisted. "This is an excellent example of why we never back heroes into a corner, not unless we are absolutely certain how they will react." That was a lesson many people had learned the hard way over the past century, if only against minor heroes. Proving that a superhero wasn't the moral paragon they thought they were was a bit of a pyrrhic victory when they splattered your head against a wall, in Luthor's opinion.

"As Queen Bee has clearly learned," Ocean Master said, breaking his silence. "And what exactly has she lost us for her folly?"

"Aside from her own assets, the sphere robot is now with the Justice League." The Brain said. "I doubt any of the data she managed to collect survived, though to be honest I am more concerned about our ally finding out we lost their gift."

Savaged waved him off. "It is no concern, we all knew that was a paltry gift on their part. Unlike some of the other things that were lent to us…"

"Gentlemen," Luthor raised his voice. "We need to focus on the matter at hand. Namely the escalation that Machina's actions represents. If the League continues to field Machina in these sorts of missions, along with his willingness to get his hands dirty, this could seriously impact our plans."

"Surely we could just avoid provoking him like when he stumbles upon our operations?" The Brain asked.

"That is what I did, and yet it still cost me." Ocean Master grumbled. "He just had to show up in Poseidonis the day I was to enact my plan… I delayed it until he left, but as a result one of my more unruly subordinates got caught and set things back."

Savage grunted. "And with him as a part of this team that doesn't officially exist, it allows the League to get things done without sullying their image. How unexpectedly practical of them." He sat up straighter. "It is simple then. Machina must be controlled, countered or removed. Ra's, you have been looking into him. Do you have any plans ready to use?"

The other man sighed. "I am afraid not. For as free as he is with his name, Jacob Morgan is surprisingly difficult to track down. I… have some theories as to why, but I need more time."

"And I need more data," The Calculator growled. "I managed to extract a little information from the ruins of the base's computers on how it did what it did, but I need _more_."

"And while I have developed some counter measures to the technovore, none of them are guaranteed to neutralize him." Luthor lamented. "It seems we need the help of the good Dr. Rouquette, again."

"That will be difficult," Ra's replied. "She is being watched by both the authorities and the League at all times, and whatever Kord is doing with regards to her. While they are relatively hands off, I have no doubt that they have set up means to track her if she disappears again. We would need time to-" The man cut himself off, a thought occurring to him. "Remind me, wasn't Kord Technologies one of the companies that made a bid for part of the North Rhelasian reconstruction efforts?"

Luthor arched an eyebrow at the topic change. Part of the peace agreement between the North and South Rhelasias was that there would be aid to bring the North's infrastructure up to First World standards. While Lexcorp of course had gotten the best contracts due to Luthor's role in recent negotiations, there was too much work for his company alone. "Yes, if I remember they're building out communication networks in the rural parts of the nation. Why?"

"If she goes to Rhelasia with Kord, I think we may have our chance. It's not guaranteed, but we still have our agents in the region. As well, there were some other elements in the country I had planned on disposing of… but now I think they might be useful."

Before Luthor could ask for clarification, the screen that was meant for Queen Bee suddenly turned on. But it wasn't her silhouette that appeared on the monitor. "So sorry for being _late_ ," A masculine voice echoed over the comm, though there was an odd metallic rasp to it. "I came as soon as I saw you were convening."

"Who is this?" Ra's said, his voice sharp. "How did you access our communications?"

" _I_ am General Harjavti" The broad silhouette shifted, and Luthor swore there was something slightly inhuman about it. "And as to the second question, I am using the equipment that my dear Queen Bee was given by you lot. And from hence forth, you shall be dealing with _me_."

"Hmm, he's not lying about the equipment," Calculator said. "Or at least he's in the same location."

Luthor was wary, but also curious. "And what of Queen Bee? Last I heard she was still alive."

"Oh, she is fine. The _Queen_ shall still sit on her throne," Harjavti said in a smug, scratchy tone. "I simply managed to convince her to focus on the domestic matters she has been neglecting. She will just be taking a step back from more… _taxing_ issues."

Luthor couldn't see it, but he knew Savage was frowning as he said "While I can appreciate ambition, we know nothing about you. Why should we allow you to take her place?"

"Aside from my control of Bialya, would you accept a reference?" The general said coyly. "I was there when that _scrap_ attacked us, pressed into service by my beloved queen, and cast aside like _meat_. Our mutual ally found me, after I had been cast from the plane. He repaired my broken body, made it stronger through _metal_ and _pain_. And through that I gained… a certain clarity of thought. I realized that my Queen may not have had what it takes to lead our nation to the glory it deserves, and that she didn't _appreciate_ those under her."

Harjavti took a moment to calm himself before he laughed. "But, do not worry. While I intend to do better than she ever did, I promise to all of you that it will be _business as usual_."

* * *

Vecnar groaned as he pulled himself out of the rubble of the collapsed wall, shaking his head to clear his vision. When his sight came back to him, a mix of rage and despair entered his chest as he saw the ruin that used to be his base of operations. The gambling den was in complete shambles, tables and machines shattered, his men knocked out all over the floor. And worst of all a massive hole punched through the roof, smoke flowing out of it into the sky.

There was no way the Thanagarians didn't see that. The Police Force would be here soon, and there was no way he'd be able to destroy all of his ledgers and assets before they got there. His entire operation was now compromised!

And he saw the cause walking out of the adjoining room, something griped underneath his arm. The man in power armor and green cloak. "You!" Vecnar snarled. "I've spent years building my power base on this world! Years subverting its government and eliminating all who opposed me! Who are you who thinks he can just walk in here and take it away from me!?"

The mercenary stopped, pausing slightly as he regarded the crime lord. "Stack." He said simply.

Vecnar spat as he leaned on the only unbroken table in the room. "Never heard of you. Who hired you? Was it the Five Sisters, trying to muscle in on my domain, the Blood Raider cartel out for revenge, or did the authorities decide to hire someone to do what they never could?" He sneered. "Or are you one of the many little insects I stepped on while I rose to the top, looking to get revenge yourself?"

Again, the man paused for a long moment before he lifted up the object he held under his arm: a data storage deck. "The box. One of your men took it after I bought it a few hours ago. I asked for it back. He refused." Another pause. "I took umbrage with this."

Vecnar blinked in confusion. "You… you assaulted my men and destroyed my base… because you wanted a storage deck back." A sickening realization set in. "You wouldn't have done any of this if we had just given it to you, would you."

"Probably." The mercenary confirmed before he turned and walked out. "Anyway, enjoy prison."

When the Thanagarian authorities finally arrived at the ruin that was the center of Vecnar's criminal empire, they found the crime lord on the ground laughing hysterically, tears in his eyes as if it was the funniest thing in the world.

* * *

Koriand'r took in a deep breath as she watched the sun drift below the horizon, the sunset light illuminating the city below her. She had been told that New York City was one of the most diverse on the planet, and yet from up here she felt she could see the unity of it. All those people from different places in life, all bound to the ground yet all together in a city which reached up to the sky. And in a certain way, she was part of it too now as well.

 _My life has certainly taken an unexpected turn_ , she mused. Her whole life she had expected to rule her people and lead them in their seemingly endless war with those who sought to destroy them. Instead here she was, acting as a Warrior Justicar on an alien world full of both things mundane and fantastic. There was so much do and see on Earth, so much that was brand new to her, things she had never imaged she would get to experience or see. In a way, coming to Earth was one of the most exciting things to happen to her.

And yet, there were still moments like this, when the planet's sun set and the sky turned a shade of red that filled her heart with longing. For it reminded her of the home she could never return to.

"Starfire!" She snapped out of her thoughts to look down at the roof below her, seeing Sarah waving up at her. Casting aside her moment of melancholy, Koriand'r drifted down to the rooftop, setting down next to the brown skinned woman, who seemed a little frazzled as she searched through a bag at her hip. "Thanks again so much for cleaning up the playground area. You saved us so much money that we couldn't afford to spend. And the kids are always happy to see you."

Koriand'r smiled. "It is no problem. I am told that being a superhero is more than just fighting crime, and children should have the chance to grow and play." Sarah was the matron of an orphanage in the northern part of the city, and someone Koriand'r had run into on one of her patrols with Wonder Woman. The woman's compassion for those she looked after had touched something inside Koriand'r, so when she mentioned that her children had recently lost their play space, the Tamaranian jumped at the opportunity to help.

An abandoned building next to orphanage collapsed a short while ago, apparently a delayed result of damage done to it during the fight with Amazo. Thankfully no one was hurt, but much of the rubble spilled over into the orphanage's playground, burying it with dangerous debris. The city was dragging its feet when it came to cleaning the mess up, so Koriand'r offered to help clear the space. With her strength it was easy to sweep the rubble back into the other lot. There was still the rest of the playground to repair, but now that could actually proceed.

"I'm happy you at least think that…" Sarah muttered before she finally found what she was looking for, pulling out a piece of paper. "Here we go. Little Emily drew this for you." Koriand'r took the paper and saw that it was a crude drawing of herself in a dramatic pose, lifting a giant rock over her head. Next to her there was a smiling little girl with braids, and under it was the words "Starfire is Best!"

Warmth spread throughout Koriand'r and she clutched the drawing to herself. "This is wonderful. Tell her I love it." With that the two said their goodbyes and Koriand'r took off, flying back towards the closest Zeta Tube. Along the way, her comm started to buzz. "Yes?" she said expectantly.

" _Starfire,_ " Wonder Woman said on the other end. " _I apologize, meant to contact you last night, but something came up in Greece. A minor riot. In any case, the League has come to a consensus._ "

Her good mood dampened a little bit. "I see." While she understood that the League was technically their parent organization, Koriand'r still wasn't sure why they had to have a meeting about Jacob's and the Team's actions during the last mission. She didn't see there was anything to discuss. "And what have they decided?"

" _Machina's actions were justified._ " The other woman said. " _We still need to be sure he's in a good place mentally, but as soon as that is certain, he can rejoin the team on missions. However, we also decided that we're not going to be sending the Team to non-U.N. affiliated countries anymore. At least for the foreseeable future._ "

"I see…" Koriand'r said slowly. "Are you displeased with our performance?"

" _No, of course not, I fully believe you managed the best outcome despite what happened. Still, there could be… issues if such things happen again and the Team is connected to it. There are protections of course, but if you are not within a country which signed the U.N. Charter…_ "

"If this is such a problem, why were we sent in the first place?"

The other woman sighed. " _Batman had certain 'ideas' about how he wanted the team to be used, but recent events have called the wisdom of his decisions into question. The League is a bit split on how they want to procced with you, but we all agreed you would need more specialized training before we let you attempt another mission like Bialya again._ "

Koriand'r hesitated for a moment before she said "In that case, we should bring the rest of the Team in on this issue. I believe we've had enough combat experience together that we can now properly determine our function as a unit."

" _That… is really more of a League decision._ "

Frustration welled up inside Koriand'r, and she actually stopped in midair. "Diana… just what is my Team to you?"

" _What? What do you mean?_ "

"You say you don't know what to do with us, but you don't want us deciding for ourselves either," She said. "Our general purpose is clear, but without effective direction of what this team is to accomplish, we can never be the best we can. And now you're saying that my team cannot even give our input on what we should be doing!"

Diana seemed taken aback. " _I didn't mean that your input wouldn't be considered at all, only that the final decision rests with us._ "

"Which means that you are our superiors, but our groups barely interact outside of Red Tornado and Batman. On Tamaran a group such as ours would have far more independence in its operations due to this, but I feel you're restricting us too much for that to be the case. This team needs more support, or more independence from the League. And while I would appreciate the former, as the leader of my team I can assure you they would prefer the latter."

The other woman was silent for a long moment before she said " _Perhaps… we can come to an arrangement. Batman of course will have his own view on this, but I will make sure that he listens to you without dismissing it out of hand. In the meantime, talk to you team. You'll be representing them._ "

Koriand'r let out a breath and resumed her flight. "Thank you, Diana."

" _Of course. And Koriand'r… I am impressed with how you've handled being team leader._ " And with that the call ended.

Koriand'r let out a satisfied hum as she landed between buildings, in front of the doorway which hid the teleportation device. She couldn't wait to tell the rest of the team the news. She knew that Kaldur had gotten back from a recent excursion from Rhelasia, so she would likely have to wait till tomorrow to inform him. And as she walked through the doorway and the Zeta Tube activated, she tried to recall when exactly Jacob was returning from his own impromptu trip.

So when the light faded and she walked into the main hall of the Mountain, she was only a little surprised to find the man in question standing in the center area, a holographic screen featuring Hawkman floating in front of him.

"…and for the sake of every ancestor spirit you have, _never_ tell my wife about what happened." And with that the screen closed.

Jacob then knelt down, connecting several wires to a dark metal box by his feet. As he did so another holographic screen popped up just above him, a diagnostic prompt drifting across the display. "Come on, come on…" he muttered as he put a hand on the box, his arm lighting up with blue lines. A few seconds later data started rapidly scrolling across the screen, though at her current angle Koriand'r couldn't see what it was. Jacob stood up and clapped his hands together. "Yes!" he shouted before he pulled up a keyboard and started scrolling through the information manually.

For a moment, Koriand'r remained where she was, just watching Jacob with a slight smile on her face. Such a strange man she had ended up courting. Her very own Tempered Smith. While her life had not given her much time to think about what kind of man she would want to be with, she wouldn't have guessed the one she had actually chosen. He was a careful and considerate man, but she had seen the passion and fury he could bring if the situation was right. He had little thrill for battle, but would not hesitate to put his life on the line for others if there was no other choice. And all with a genuine desire to make the world a better place for everyone.

In short, a man with hidden depths. One she had fallen for all the same.

Eventually she stopped her musings and walked forward. "A success, I would assume." She said as she walked up behind him. "Just what is it?"

Jacob finally turned to her, a delighted grin on his face. "Why don't you tell me?" He asked, and with a gesture the screen in front of him drifted through the air towards her.

She gave him a look, but turned to look at the screen… and froze in place at what she saw. The script was Tamaranian. A massive series of directories and files, many of which with titles she recognized. The Epic of Alisand'r, the collected symphonies of the Royal Orchestra, every serial of the Legend of the Shattered Kingdom. "This- this is-!"

"About a hundred thousand different pieces of Tamaranian media, ranging from books, to art, to music, to movies, to a bunch of other stuff I'm not even sure about." Jacob said as he walked next to her. "We've both lost a lot, but you have to live in a completely different and foreign culture. I… wanted to fix that. Even if it's just this, I wanted to give you a little piece of your ho-hrmp!"

That was as far as he managed to get before Koriand'r launched herself at him, her lips forcefully closing over his. When she pulled back she looked at him with wet eyes. "Thank you thank you!" She broke from the embrace long enough to scroll through the list of holoplays, searching for a few seconds until she found one from her childhood. "This one, this one! Let's watch this one!" She said excitedly.

Jacob managed to corral her towards the couch in common room, forming a hologram projector from his shoulder so that they could watch. It wasn't quite the quality of image Koriand'r remembered from her childhood, but she was more than happy with it as she curled up next to him. Joy swelled through her as she watched familiar scenes of drama and camaraderie play out before her which she thought she had lost forever, and at times she couldn't keep the tear from her eyes as she held Jacob close.

However, it had already been late when they started, so as much as she wanted keep watching, Koriand'r found herself drifting off around halfway through the third play. She protested weakly when Jacob turned it off, but she stopped when she felt him pick her up into his arms. A hum came from the back of her throat as she rested her head in the crook of his neck, her sleepy mind noting the little things about him. Those things he always made sure to have when they were together. The warmth of his body, the steady heartbeat, that faint iron scent.

Soon enough they arrived at her bedroom, and she felt him gently setting her down on her bed. She sleepily propped herself against him as she sat on the edge of her mattress. With some fumbling and some help from him she managed to pull off her clothes before she laid down, and he made to leave her to her sleep.

Her hand reached out and grasped his arm. "Stay with me." She whispered softly.

Jacob hesitated for a moment before he moved on to the bed, climbing over to reach the other side of her. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close, and Koriand'r fell asleep in the arms of the man who had captured her heart.

=====A=====

A/N: Because while Hawkwoman is a very practical and no nonsense kind of woman, Hawkman is at his heart a romantic.


	44. 11-1

=====A=====

Is Reed Richards actually useless?

For those not familiar with that specific trope, it describes the idea that any given mad scientist or genius inventor will never actually use their inventions to meaningfully change the world they live in (in fiction). Sure, you might get orbital death rays or teleporters, but when it comes to solving more mundane problems, or even just patenting and selling their work, nothing. The world I had arrived in was mostly the same as the one I left, socially and technologically. Well, on the surface anyway.

The trope was often expressed in fiction because the writers of a given work want fantastic elements in their story, but not have it change the setting they're working with. Of course, the Doylist reason doesn't really work when you're living in a real, actual superhero universe (…hopefully. _I am the Lampshade of my-_ no, stop it). So the question was, just what was the Watsonian reason for all this super-tech existing but things are mostly the same?

And the answer, as you might expect from a realistic look at such an issue, is complicated.

To start with, there are frequently some general problems with super tech that don't lend themselves to mass production. Most power armor designs that exist and have been used have been far too materially expensive to actually make several of, even for Special Forces. And for some technology the material itself is incredibly rare or limited, like the White Dwarf fragment used for all of Atom's technology (and no, don't ask me how you can have a fragment of a White Dwarf star the doesn't instantly explode).

On the villain side of things, there's a lot of people who simply don't care to go through the process of getting their technology patented. Even ignore the difficulties criminals would have dealing with the patent office, a good number of them lean heavily on the 'mad' part of Mad Scientist. Either they're not in it for the money, or don't care for society in general. As a result, a lot of villainous tech ends up gathering dust in police lock up.

So, what about taking that tech and reverse engineering it like I did? Legally speaking, that can be done… but the unfortunate death of one Edward Lytener marked the last time anyone had tried. The man was an aspiring engineer in the early nineties who hit upon the idea to reverse engineer the light technology used by the then imprisoned Doctor Light. And he made some good progress, seeing as how all modern hologram technology on the market is based on his work. But, unfortunately, Doctor Light escaped prison and swiftly made it clear how he felt about other people cribbing off of his notes.

Since then the public has had a… wary view when it comes to villainous super tech. It doesn't help that it's hard for many people to mentally separate villains' technology from the heinous deeds that are committed with them. Companies would have a PR nightmare trying to market anything connected with supervillains, and combined with the threat of reprisal from said villains mean none really try. I suppose tech from dead supervillains might be more viable, but cultural inertia is hard to overcome.

Superheroes can get around several of these issues (though some still don't care for dealing the bureaucracy and tedium of spreading their own tech around), but they also have some of their own. One of which being that you have to give the government (or a lawyer with your power of attorney) your real name in order to patent things, so it can get really easy for people to track you down.

And then, even if you don't care and get your stuff patented anyway, sometimes the government will actively prevent you from spreading it. Case and point, the Zeta Tubes.

I was honestly surprised when I learned that the Zeta Tubes were invented by a human scientist, in the _1950's_. The man could barely get anyone to pay attention to his theories until he finally just made the prototype himself, and browned-out three states by accidentally teleporting J'onn to Earth. Needless to say, that got the various governments of the world worried, and kicked off some immediate research restrictions and having all the governments argue about it for half a century. The tech remained in limbo until the Justice League was founded, and the U.N. agreed that they were impartial enough to use it. Bit of a waste in my opinion, but there was rampant paranoia that someone would miss use it and call down an alien invasion that would wipe out all life on Earth. Or, as I imaged some politicians feared more, that a country would gain a massive advantage in the form a technically advanced ally and assume world dominance.

Somewhat ironic, considering recent events.

In any case, sometimes some advanced bits of technology make it through all of these barriers. Small, but noticeable. And I the moment, I was making my own contribution to that.

I floated at the edge of the stratosphere, the blue sky just starting to give way to the black of space as I drifted over the Rhelasian peninsula. This was the highest I could manage to fly with the aerokinectic core; there just wasn't any more air for me to be buoyant or push off of. Still, it was high enough to make it significantly easier for payloads to reach orbit if launched from up here. Such as the ones I was carrying.

I carefully arranged the array of small rockets in front of me, my mechadendrites spacing them and pointing them upwards. Each one contained a small satellite with as strong a radio transmitter and receiver that Ted and I could manage for its size, along with some advanced networking equipment I had been working on as I tried to improve the Team's comm equipment. They weren't anything special on their own, but each was meant to connect with each other along with the others already in orbit to form a wireless mesh network that could be accessed from the planet's surface. It wasn't particularly fast, but using this the whole country would have access to free wifi.

This was one of the better ideas that Ted and I had workshopped when we were coming up with ways to bring North Rhelasian infrastructure up to spec. The ideal we wanted was to create infrastructure that the populous was capable up maintaining and upgrading themselves, but we quickly realized that most of the North Rhelasian population was just too spread out and not technologically literate enough to make anything reasonable. So to start with, we decided it would be best to have something that was as wide spread and easy to use as possible, along with a few educational information campaigns over the next couple of years.

I… may have borrowed the idea from a certain billionaire who didn't exist in this particular universe.

"Serling, is the telemetry set up to sync with the last batch?" I asked over the radio.

Far down below me, the scientist replied. " _Yes, yes. This system is mostly automatic. You don't have to keep checking in with me._ "

My mouth quirked. "Someone has to. Everyone else here that's not Ted is intimidated by you."

I could hear a hint of irritation in her voice as she responded. " _I just have high standards. I'd like to think I'm keeping this whole exercise on schedule._ "

 _Some might say that you're trying to hurry things along to get back to your own work,_ I thought. I was still a little surprised that Serling had insisted on coming along with me and Ted, but she had nearly panicked when we told her we were going to Rhelasia for a few days. She said that she was very close to finally cracking the encoding for nanites and making a functioning compiler. I pointed out that she could just wait a few days, but she was adamant that it be done as soon as possible. So much so that she volunteered herself to help with the infrastructure project just so that she could be near me to finish her work.

Which I would have found very touching if there hadn't been something unusually manic about her behavior.

With the last checks done, I sent the signal to the rockets, and a moment later their thrusters fired and they shot up into the black. My eyes traced their trajectory for a few seconds before my gaze was brought back down to the horizon. The sun had risen several hours again, but it was low enough the light still framed the curve of the Earth. "...If you get the chance Serling, I highly recommend seeing the Earth from orbit. It's still one of my favorite things since becoming a superhero."

" _I suppose I wouldn't turn the opportunity down if it came up._ " She responded, though there was something odd in her tone. " _That said, I'm worried that if I saw the sun cresting over the edge of the planet, I'd have 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra' stuck in my head for a week._ "

"Actually, for me it's Fat Bottomed Girls."

"… _dare I ask why?_ "

"What else would I think about when I see the rocking world go 'round?"

An exasperated sigh. " _Just get back down here so I can finish up this experiment._ "

I snorted before I flipped backwards, diving straight back down to the surface. Considering I was about 40km up, it would take me a while before I reached the ground. Part of me wanted to see if I could fall fast enough to break the sound barrier, but my discretion told me that it would be a bad idea for a super-sonic object to suddenly appear on the North Rhelasia's radar. They knew I was here, but it was best not to make the North Korea expy nervous.

Ten minutes later I touched down at the edge of a small village nestled in a countryside valley, walking towards a large tent with the Kord Tech logo on it. It was one of four set up in an open meadow, and a few Kord Tech employees waved to me in greeting as I passed by. Opening the tent flap revealed a haphazard mess of electronic equipment and computers, and a somewhat harried Serling looking at a monitor intensely. I could also tell from a glance that it wasn't the rocket telemetry on that monitor. I rolled my eyes and walked over to the terminal she was supposed to be at. "You know, if you really don't want to do this, you could have just stayed back at the main encampment at the parallel."

"But you're out here, so I am too." She replied, and when she turned to look at me she saw me giving her a scowl. She rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, I just need you for one more thing. I just finished up the latest analysis program."

I looked back at the screen in front of me, checking the progress of the various rockets as they reached the apex of their arcs and deployed the satellites. "And you're sure this will do the trick?"

"Of course!" She exclaimed as she fully turned to me, her hands full of those multiphase signal prongs I had become unfortunately familiar with over the past few months. "I told you earlier I had a breakthrough, didn't I? This is going to work, I'm sure of it."

With a last look at the screen to make sure the satellites were doing what they were supposed to, I walked over to her and started plugging the various prongs into my body. "You still haven't told me exactly what this breakthrough is."

Serling waved her hand. "I've been having a lot of inspiration lately. Working on this problem has caused me to look at algorithms in a new way. Especially ones involving a distributed quantum state machine like yourself. With the way your nanites interact with each other, it's like the state machine itself was changing moment to moment. Once that clicked, it's just a matter of finding the right waveform equation to parse what's going on with your machine code."

I nodded slowly. I… mostly understood that. "I see. And this is going to find that equation?"

She nodded back. "And once it does, it should slot right in the compiler we've been developing. It's the last piece we need." She grinned and gained a far off look in her eyes. "And then we can do so much with it."

She was like that for a long moment before she noticed the look I was giving her, and her face flushed. "A-anyway," she muttered, turning back to her computer and typing away at the keyboard. After a few seconds the screen switched to a diagnostic display, and I felt a myriad of sensations along the back of my mind. We had long refined this process to the point where it never hurt me, though now it felt like pushing two ever shifting shaped blocks against each other, each trying to slide into the other but not quite managing it.

"Right, that should do it," Serling said as she leaned back. "Now we just have to wait. If I did this right, it will be five minutes tops before we get a result."

"Right. And since I'm a bit tied up at the moment," I said gesturing to myself, "Perhaps you could take care of the telemetry now?"

Serling sighed. "Fine, fine," she muttered as she moved over to the console I had been standing at. "You'd think Ted would have one of his own people handling this grunt work."

I gave her a look. "Since when is he 'Ted' to you? I think this is the first time I've heard you call him something other than Kord."

Serling blinked for a moment before she realized what she said, and groaned while she put her hand to her face. "Ugh… alright, look," she said as she turned back to me. "You can't tell him this… but he's not as bad as I thought he was."

I leaned back against one of the tent pole. "To be honest, I don't understand why you thought he was bad in the first place. What was up with that anyway?"

Serling took a breath before she said "How much you know about Kord Tech? I mean, before Ted became CEO?"

"Not much. If I remember correctly, the company was founded in the late fifties by his grandfather and gradually grew in size over the decades. It wasn't until Ted took over that it really took off." I paused before I said "I think I remember something about there being legal troubles just before that happened."

Serling nodded. "Ted's grandfather was a decent businessman and scientist who managed to get into the silicon transistor market early, and founded the company's identity as a tech company. Ted's father on the other hand leaned more towards business, and when he saw the chance to take the company international, he did everything he could to boost his reputation. Including claiming other people's work as his own."

I raised my eyebrows. "He plagiarized scientific discoveries and inventions?"

"Mostly those of his own employees. He wanted to give the world the impression that he was some kind of genius scientist and inventor." She made a vague gesture. "No one could prove anything in court, but as things went on more and more of these rumors started to get around, to the point it was causing bad press. Thomas Kord saw the writing on the wall, and as soon as Ted graduated college he handed the company over to his son. A month later Ted revealed the company's new Robotics division, and the rest is history."

I gave a small frown and tilted my head. "Alright, Ted's father was an asshole. But what does that have to do with him?"

She gave me strange look. "Do you have any idea how advanced Ted's robots were compared to everything else on the market? It was absurd, and he claimed to be the sole designer of them. It was obvious to me that he had to be doing the same thing as his father, just being more subtle about it. So every time he came around the university looking for a nanotech expert I told him to get lost."

"But now I'm guessing you've changed your mind on that?"

"Well, I talked with every scientist of his I could find to confirm my suspicions," Serling rubbed the back of her neck. "But… it turns out he actually _is_ a genius scientist and inventor." She sounded just so _annoyed_ by that. "The reason that he is the primary credit on most of his projects is because he does most of the design and integration work himself. He comes up with solutions to cross-discipline problems that should take an entire team weeks in a couple of days. I honestly wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't helped me solve a claytronic modularity problem with _fluid dynamics_ , of all things."

My mouth quirked a little. "Well, good to know that you two have stopped bickering, at least."

She snorted. "Hardly. For a man who's so smart he can jump to some pretty dumb conclusions about things. Particular things he should be deferring to me on." Serling then blinked and shot a scowl my way. "And I do not bicker! It's not bickering when I'm right!"

Before I could argue that point, I felt a slight shift at the back of my mind. It was like the end of a thread had been found, and someone had started pulling on it. "Something's happening…" I said as I looked back at her console. In one portion of the screen I saw a set of wave function diagrams morphing and changing parameters as they tried to match the ever shifting on in the center.

At the same moment the diagrams on the screen finally reached alignment, I felt those shapes in my mind finally align and slide together. A feeling of connection filled me, and on the other monitor I saw code scrolling down the screen. Code that I could understand. "It works…" I said, looking at something I had been chasing for the past few months.

"Yes!" Serling actually jumped in the air as she yelled this before darting in and looking at the code more closely. "Data integrity shows no sign of decay, error checking is green across the board, this is it! This is what I've been looking for!"

She then turned and actually hugged me in excitement, taking me completely off guard. It was a bit awkward considering I still had all the prongs in me, but I managed to return it. "You're amazing," I said as we broke apart and I started pulling the prongs out of myself. "I couldn't have done this without you. Now I can finally get back to programming."

"Me too! This is the last thing I need for it!" Serling said excitedly as she stared at the screen an odd glint in her eye. "This compiler gives me the last bits of functionality I needed. I can finish it!" I… actually wasn't sure what she was talking about.

Before I could ask though, I heard something on the edge of my hearing, the sound several engines running hot and getting closer. My brow furrowed as I turned to look out the tent flap. "Are were expecting any company?"

"Hmm? No, we're supposed to head back the parallel on our own in a few hours," Serling said. "Why?"

"Because someone's coming here awfully fast…" I said as I walked out of the tent, looking down the main road next to our little encampment. A few seconds later I saw several jeeps speeding down the road towards us, machine guns mounted on the back and men in army camo riding in the vehicles. My eyebrows shot up in sudden concern, and I walked briskly forward towards the oncoming cars, armor forming on my person. As they got closer, I held my hand up to flag them down. "Hello there!" I called out. "Can I help you with some-"

The turret on the closet jeep to me opened fire, and I was sprinting straight at them as soon as the first bullet slammed into my chest. The rounds were a little heavier than I was used to tanking, but it was nothing I couldn't handle, and every bullet that flattened itself against me was one that didn't hit the people near me. As I cleared the distance, my eyes darted around and I did a quick mental check of what I was dealing with: five jeeps with mounted guns, with three to four men armed with assault rifles each. Possibly armed with grenades, but unable to tell for sure.

My arm turned into a freeze cannon as I juked to the side of the oncoming jeep at the last second, freezing the front and side of the vehicle to the ground. It came to a sudden stop that flung the men out of the car, shortly before the jeep behind it slammed into it with a massive crash. The three behind it managed to swerve out of the way, but I was already jumping to the air over them and taking aim. Neutralizing their ability to harm the civilians was my first priority, so I fired several more freeze rays at the mounted guns on the remaining jeeps.

My aim was good, but not perfect. Three shots froze each of the guns solid, but I used wide beams to make sure I hit my targets, and there was some splash-freezing. Large portions of the jeeps were frozen solid, and one unfortunate solider wasn't quick enough to get away and had his arm frozen to the gun as well. He screamed in both shock and pain, but he would be fine so long as I could wrap this up in a few minutes.

Once I landed I ignored the men who had turned their rifles on me, instead focusing on those that were trying to get away or heading towards the tents. My other arm formed into a directional magnet and yanked their guns towards me. With everyone's attention firmly on me, I pulled the arm up and changed it into an overpowered floodlight, emitting a blinding flash that caused everyone around me flinch back and cry out.

After that, it was a simple matter to take down the rest of them. The ones stumbling around blind I took out with electric shocks, and the few that tried to run I reeled back in with grapple lines (and then took out with electric shocks). In short order almost all of the soldiers were unconscious, and the few that weren't I tied up with pilfered rope from their jeeps. A few had broken bones and cuts from the crash, but nothing life threatening. In total, the whole fight had only lasted about thirty seconds.

It was then I heard Serling yell from the tent. "Jacob! What the hell is going on?! Who's shooting at us?!" A glance back revealed her to be peeking out from the edge of the tent's doorway.

"Not sure." I yelled back before I crouched next to one of the soldiers, looking him up and down. At first glance I thought these were North Rhelasian soldiers, but a closer look revealed slight differences in the uniform. The accents around the collar and sleeves were missing, and in place of the North Rhelasian flag patch on their arm there was an emblem of a jackal's head "Who are you? Why did you attack us?"

The Rhelasian man didn't response, instead just giving me an intense glare. I sighed and stood, but before I could do anything else, I heard an explosion in the distance. I turned my head to look, but I didn't see anything. A few seconds later I heard another two in quick succession. Given how I still couldn't see anything, they must have been both miles away and massive.

I swore I caught a hint of motion at the top of a nearby hill as I scanned the area, but as I turned my head to look there was nothing there. _Is the foliage slightly warmer at that spot, or is it just my imagination?_ I wondered. Either way, I fired a freeze ray at the location, but while all the plant life froze, I failed to see anything else.

I had no idea what was going on, and I did not like it. I turned back to everyone looking at me. "Everyone, pack it up. I'm not sure what's going on, but we need to leave as soon as possible."

Everyone hurried away to do as I said, and I started to call home base in an attempt to figure out what was going on-

…And scowled as the static of a signal jammer was my response. _Not this time_ , I thought as my arm changed shape. The last time I had faced one of these, my shapeshifting had been on the fritz, but now was a different matter. Really, all a signal jammer did was emit a powerful radio signal that drowned out all other transmissions in the area. So, the simplest way to get around it was to just generate an even stronger signal.

My arm thickened and extended, forming a cylindrical shape with a large parabolic dish on the end. It wasn't quite a radio laser, but it could put out an extremely powerful signal in a specific direction. And that direction at the moment was south, down near the parallel. "Kord, this is Machina, come in. We've just had armed men attack our camp, and I'm not sure who they belong to."

There was silence for several long, tense moments before I heard Ted's voice on the other end of the line. " _Jacob! What the hell is going on up there?! Are my people safe?! Is Serling safe?! How are you getting a signal out?_ "

"Everyone's fine, I knocked out or tied up all the men. Right now I'm sending out about a strong a signal as I can manage." I paused. "I take it you noticed the jammer, then? How wide spread is it?"

" _I don't know, but a lot of people lost contact with several places just north of the border. The military is scrambling right now, but from what I've heard the North Rhelasians are swearing it's not them._ "

I glanced at the men I had tied up. "Well, the uniforms of the men I captured do have a couple of differences. But if it's not them, then who the hell are these people?"

" _I'll have to get back to you on that one, no one's telling me anything…_ " Ted growled. " _If I had to guess, given that we've lost contact with several places at once, I'd say we're looking at a coup. Probably some people weren't happy with the peace agreement._ "

"Shit." I muttered. "Ted, we've already had a group of them gunning after your employees. We can't just ride this out."

Ted grunted in agreement. " _And I don't think going to the local authorities for protection is the best idea, all things considered. I'm going to try to get some U.N. forces to your position, but given how cagy the North Rhelasians are being, I wouldn't count on it._ "

I sighed. "Well, I'd be all for calling the Justice League in… if they were allowed in the country." While South Rhelasia was part of the U.N., the North was not, and the peace treaty between the North and South only went so far. "To be honest I'm still surprise you managed to get me into the country."

"… _yeah, about that,_ " Ted began.

"Ted." I said flatly. "The North Rhelasians do know I'm here, right?"

" _Of course they do! I had to give them the names of all the people I'd be sending into their country._ " Ted insisted, before his tone became a little more sheepish. " _It's just… given how easily they agreed, there is a slight chance that they don't actually know you're a superhero._ "

"Oh my god Ted I've been flying in and out of their part of the stratosphere for the past few hours!" I yelled. "If they noticed that but didn't know I was supposed to be there-!"

" _It'll be fine! The people at the border saw you and didn't raise a fuss. So their superiors probably know! Just, you know, try to avoid them if you can. Just to be sure._ "

I forced myself to calm down. Panicking wouldn't help here. "I'll keep that in mind." I said tightly. "Either way, we can't stay here. Will we get shot at border if we make it there?"

Ted was silent for a moment before he said. " _You won't. I'll make sure of it_."

"Right, then I'm going to try to get everyone here back. You should make sure to call the League, as well. They should know what's going on regardless of what they can do about it." I hesitated for a moment before I continued. "And contact Starfire. She'll want to know too."

The League might not have been able to do anything, but this was just the sort of thing the Team was made for.

" _Will do._ " Ted said firmly. " _Don't worry, I don't intend to let any one of you down. And I've still got a trick or two up my sleeve._ "

I closed the comm and looked around at everyone frantically grabbing their things and pilling into cars. Alright, all I had to do was escort about a dozen civilians 20 miles across hostile territory, potentially controlled by an unknown force.

No pressure.

=====A=====

A/N: Cue Snake Eater theme.


	45. 11-2

=====A=====

I flew high above the road, keeping a close eye on the mix of cars and trucks speeding down the road beneath me. There were six vehicles in total, four SUVs and two larger trucks. We had abandoned most of the equipment we couldn't quickly load back at the camp, so the vehicles had plenty of room to carry everyone. Still, that didn't mean we were moving as fast as I liked. While the border was only 25 miles from where we has set up camp, the roads in this part of the country were not that well developed. That plus the mountainous terrain meant that it would take over an hour before the border was in sight.

"If anyone sees anything, be sure to let me know," I said over the radio, my head swiveling every which way to keep an eye on as much as the surrounding area as possible. "I can't see everything at once, so I'm counting on you guys."

I got a couple of confirmations from below, but other than that we moved in silence. I could still hear the occasional explosion in the distance, and once I was pretty sure I saw a rocket shoot between distant mountains, but there was still nothing near us. I had expected to see a base or military force nearby considering the men who went after us, but there was nothing. Those men that had come after us must have come a long way, we weren't just a target of opportunity. So, what did that mean?

I didn't have long to think about it though, as I then noticed what was coming up ahead. _Damn it, I forgot_ , I thought as the road in front of us went into a thick forest. The canopy of trees made it impossible to see the forest floor from the air, and even the road itself was blocked from view in a few places (The overcast sky was not making it any easier either). As such I dropped low as the convoy reached the tree line, so that I could keep the vehicles in my sight.

I was pushing my senses as far as I could, but to be honest it was difficult to sweep the entire area around the moving convoy as much as I liked. There was too much area to see everything at once, and the cars were moving too quickly for me to really look at any one place for long. It was probably fine… so long as I was only dealing with normal human soldiers. With average level tech. Yeah, given my track record, I probably shouldn't count on that.

I needed to step things up a bit… and I had an idea as to how. I just had to not fall out of the sky while doing it.

I mentally prepared myself as I pulled up an Algorithm script I had been working on. It was something that I had made to help me parse through large amounts of data, and had found that it also helped my physical senses take in more input as well. The problem was that it was a little overwhelming, the sensory overload making it difficult to think properly. I was sure that I could adapt to it as some point (I had with my current array of senses after all), but that would take time. For now though...

Holistic Sensory Manifold.

 _My world expanded yet stayed the same size, details filling in the gaps I didn't know were there. Lines of light and darkness, informing hiding spots. Temperature gradients affecting wind flow. A myriad of sounds from the forest, isolate positions and distance. Create map, connections flow from one to the next, all connected._

 _Time passes, expected values established. As soon as pattern forms, an aberration. Something that should not be there. Visual._

 _A line of wire stretched across the road, 20 meters in front of the lead car._

I snapped out of the script and shot forward to the front of the convoy. "Stop the cars, now!" I yelled over the radio as I landed just in front of the wire.

The cars hard braked and slid to a stop about 10 meters away from where I was. I glanced back at the wire suspended a foot off the ground, each end disappearing into the underbrush on either side of the road. I wasn't sure what the wire was made out of, but it was a dull material that blended into the dirt road beneath it. If I hadn't been using that script, I probably wouldn't have noticed it. So now the question was, just what did this tripwire trigger, and how I could disable it without-

That is of course when the when one end of the wire snapped on its own.

A pair of explosions detonated from either side of the road, and a fraction of a second later dozens of steel ball bearings slammed into me at supersonic speeds from both sides, causing me to stumble a little. It wasn't too bad, but a few of them hit my relatively unprotected face, embedding themselves in my 'flesh'. In spite of this, my attention was focused on the trees around me. That wire hadn't snapped on its own, which meant that-

Sure enough, a moment later several lines of wire shoot out of the underbrush to my left, propelled by some unknown force. I ducked out of the way of them as I yelled into the comm "Everyone reverse, now!" The caravan of cars started backing up as quickly as they could, and a smooth helm formed over my head. My arm formed into a freeze ray and I fired into the underbrush where the wires had come from, freezing much of the area.

For a moment I stood still, waiting for something to move or attack, but there was nothing. I took a few steps towards where I had frozen the plant life, but suddenly the ground underneath me crumbled and fell away into a pit. _Who the hell had time to dig a pit?!_ I thought as I dipped a little before I floated upwards.

There were several low thumps from the wood around me, and I saw several grenade sized objects arcing up into the air above me. I leapt into the air as hard as I could, deftly moving between the projectiles. Sure enough, the road beneath me exploded as all the grenades hit the ground. _This is a mess, there's no way I'm dealing with this and protecting the civilians. We need to pull back._

Before I could do anything though, the sound of an explosion caused me to look back towards the cars in time to see a massive tree fall over and block the road. The cars were trapped, with nowhere to go.

Suddenly, I detected a rapid buildup of electrical charge around me. The ionized air stretched upwards to the cloudy sky, and was getting stronger by the second. I threw myself to the side just before a bolt of lightning sliced though the space where I once was. I skid to a stop in the air, but I was forced to drop to the burning ground when a rocket shot up from the woods at me.

 _That's a bit of a wrinkle_ , I thought as the air started to charge again. That lighting strike didn't appear to be related to any of the traps or devices I had seen. And the kind of tech that could bring down lightning like that was way more advanced than anything my assailant had used against me thus far. My guess, there was someone else in those woods, a metahuman.

Another set of wires shot out and connected to the trees on the other side of the road, forming a metal spider web I was forced to dodge around. I still couldn't see the source of all these attacks, so that meant I would have to dive into the woods and flush it out myself. Before I could though, I caught a hint of motion out of the corner of my eye, and my head turned to look at the convoy. I saw a lithe figure in dark green combat gear and facemask approaching one of the vehicles.

Juking to the side of another rocket, I fired a freeze ray at the figure. They were quick enough to duck back out of the way of the beam and dive back into the forest. Judging by the ionized air I was detecting in that direction, it was likely they were the source of those lightning bolts.

Good to have confirmation, but this made things even more complicated. My sensors weren't good enough to pinpoint my targets amid the foliage, but the moment I dove in after one of them, the other would go for the convoy. I was caught in an untenable situation.

I danced like this for a few more seconds, dodging explosives and lightning bolts. I fired off a few lasers into the underbrush, but I had no idea where to shoot. These people knew how to use the foliage to hide, and everything was so chaotic that I couldn't focus on any one point long enough to see anything. Still, I had to try.

 _Everything in my perception paired down as I focused as hard as I could on the forest in front of me. Another tripwire shot at me from forward left, dodge. Grenades arching from above, step in to avoid. Stop, mines on the side of the road. Position lets me see line launching device attached to tree. Assailant is using remote turrets, need to find the person. Not autonomous, controller needs to be nearby to see target. Average the center of area from all locations attacks came from-_

I went a little too deep into thought. As such, I couldn't quite dodge the next attack. Another line shot out from the trees, this one much thicker and tipped with a harpoon. I expected it to bounce off, but the moment before it impacted my side the head split apart into a claw which clamped onto me. I expected to be pulled by the line, but the metal shaft connected to the claw suddenly split apart and extended, forming into an array of rods.

Lightning rods.

"Oh, fiddlesticks-" I managed to say as the pillar of ionized air ignited and found its shortest path to ground through my body.

I was also rather painfully reminded that while the Faraday mesh was a good defense against electricity, it wasn't an absolute one. I screamed as my outer surface burned and sizzled, dead nanites flaking off of my body. As quick as it started it stopped however, and I was left stumbling in the road. Even as I reformed my armor another rocket shot out of the trees and slammed into my chest, throwing me across the road and causing me slam into a tree hard enough to crack it.

I could have landed on my feet, but I let myself crumple to the ground instead. I fell onto my side and lay still, counting on the fact they didn't know what I was and would think I had been knocked unconscious. I took a few seconds to pull myself back together (and add a few extra layers of Faraday mesh) and think. I was only going to have a few seconds of surprise, I had to capitalize on it. My mind raced as I thought of different solutions, and a few came to mind. And in all of them, I first had to get rid of who or whatever was controlling the traps. The forest in general was being a problem too.

 _I… could just destroy that whole area_ , I thought. My Artillery Plasma Cannon could make a pretty big crater. That would almost certainly kill whoever was out there. But, do I really want to do that? Yes, there are civilian lives on the line, but… am I really at that point again? Is this going to just keep happening? Do I want to repeat what happened in Bialya?

…No. No I don't.

I just had to be better.

The moment my body finished healing I rolled to my feet and shot into the air, flying just above the tree line to the spot right above where all the explosives and wires were coming from. To the lightning controller's credit, the instant I came to a stop they had already started to charge the air around me. Before the bolt came down though, I formed a powerful electromagnet in my chest, created a magnetic shell around myself. The ionized air was pushed away from me and when the lightning bolt fell it was channeled around me through the shell. The sheer power of it meant that some of the electricity arced to me anyway, but it was much more manageable for my Faraday mesh.

My left arm formed into a multi-barrel grapple launcher, with over a dozen grapple heads sticking out of my limb. Now. The lines shot out from my arm covering the small area beneath me. Each one struck the ground without hitting my unseen assailant, but that was fine. The electromagnets on the end of the grapples activated, pulling them towards the biggest source of metal in the area. A few went in random directions, but most of the lines converged on a single point in the underbrush, latching onto a large object. Hoping that I hadn't just found yet another bomb, I reacted the lines and pulled it up to me. It was…

I blinked at the blurry, transparent shape held in my lines. It was roughly the size and shape of a person, but the light around it bent in a very familiar manner if you had seen certain movies.

I hesitated for a moment before I grinned. "Is that optical camouflage? Because if so, yoink." My other hand split into multiple tendrils and creeped over the figure's body, consuming anything technological I could find. After a few second I found what I was looking for and the translucent figure flickered for a moment before it turned into a short man in combat gear, covered head to toe in pouches, grenades, wires, and a few different types of launchers. Some of the fabrics were torn, but it was hard to tell where the equipment ended and the man began. "Now, who are you and why are you attacking us?"

The responded in Rhelasian, speaking with a reedy tone of voice. He talked… and kept talking. I waited a few seconds for him to wrap up, but the man just kept going. If the man was just cursing me out, he was doing it in a surprisingly non-aggressive tone. Eventually I interrupted "Err, could you perhaps start over in English?"

Before he could oblige me, the air around us started to charge. Was his teammate trying to kill him to keep him from talking? Either way, it was a bit awkward holding him as I reactivated my magnetic shell, seeing as how all the metal on his person was trying to pull the man out of my grasp. I managed to hold on, but enough of the electricity from the bolt that followed slipped through the shell and coursed through him. The man screamed and twitched before he fell limp in my grasp.

I cursed dropped below the canopy of trees, falling straight to the ground before checking on my captive. He wasn't dead, but he'd be in a lot of pain when he woke up. I dropped him before taking a look around for the one who had been dropping lightning bolts on me for the past few minutes. I didn't see anything around me, but with the trap man out of the way I could move through the woods without problem. The trees would actually give me a little cover from the lightning, too.

I sensed another ion build up, but this time it wasn't on me, but on the lead car of the convoy. Shit! I shot out of the trees and towards the convoy. Looked like the metahuman had found a way to draw me out. Well, I had to hope that my plan B would work.

Lucky for me my assailant was making a big one, so I had time to fly above the line of cars into the center of the ionized air. I moved my main electromagnet from my chest to my arm, the limb bulging into a cylindrical shape. I then switched the polarity of the magnet, so that all of the ionized air got pulled in to the tip of my limb. A few more adjustments drew and compressed the air into the impromptu device that was my arm: A mix of a coil gun and an air cannon.

My arm opened up along four seams and braced the densely packed and charged ball of air. I then swung my arm down and fired the ball at the other source of highly charged ions I could detect.

How do you counter attack someone who can create highly ionized air? Move the air somewhere else.

The lightning bolt fell among the trees with a shattering blast, with several of said trees being blown apart. Much of the underbrush was lit aflame, and dark smoke started to rise upwards. I remained floating where I was for a long moment, waiting for any sign of movement, or for another attack to come. I had to wait half a minute before I got the former.

Stumbling out of the burning underbrush was the lithe figure I had seen earlier, a woman now that I could get a good look at her. Bits of her uniform were singed, but overall she seemed uninjured. As I figured, the woman could protect herself from her own lightning. But that didn't change the fact that lightning was both incredibly loud and bright. That last bolt had stunned her quite a bit.

She pulled the smoking and burnt facemask from her head to reveal a pretty Rhelaisan face and short cropped hair. She blinked blearily at me as I float down in front of her. "Now, I don't suppose you could oblige me and tell me what all this is about?" The woman, like her comrade, replied in Rhelasian. At length. She was a bit more heated than her partner though, and as her tone rose I could feel the air around us start to charge. She didn't get very far though, as a moment later my fist collided with her sternum, causing her to double over. While she was stunned I slipped around the woman and put her in a sleeper hold, knocking her out.

 _I feel like I just missed out on some pretty crucial information due to my lack of language skills_ , I thought as I carried the woman over to where I left trap man. _I should probably remedy that. I do still have that translator…_

I tied the unconscious pair of… operatives to a nearby tree, using some of the wire that the man helpfully had on his person (and disarming both of them in the process). I then spent some extra time checking the immediate area for more traps, as the man seemed like the type to go overboard. Sure enough, a good part of the road in front of me had a few more tripwires and explosives. No mines buried deep, thankfully, so it didn't take too long to clear out the path.

While I did that, I had some time to think about what just happened. Just what the hell was I dealing with? Why were a pair of high end special assets gunning after me, especially when I'm trying to leave the country? Were they trying to capture me at all? No, the woman was not being careful with her lightning, and it didn't seem like she was panicking. Maybe they were after some of the tech we brought with us? We left most of it behind though… what did they think we had that was worth chasing us down for?

I finished up with the road and flew back to the caravan, taking a head count. I stopped when I got to Serling's car, my eyebrow arching at what I found. "Really? Is now really the best time?"

Serling didn't respond to me, continuing to type away at her laptop. I wait for a few second for her to respond, but she continued to ignore me. Wait, or was she… "Serling?" I asked with a bit more trepidation. "Serling, are you alright?"

She still didn't respond, but I heard her muttering under her breath. "…delta over one half lambda by normalized matrix such that vector theta exponent sigma-"

I reached out and touched her shoulder. "Serling?"

The woman gave a start and turned to look at me. "What?! What is it?"

I was silent for a long moment before I said "Is there something up with you? You've been acting really weird lately. And more importantly, haven't stopped being weird even after people started trying to kill us." Did she even notice the operative that was near her car?

Her eyes flickered between myself and her laptop screen. "I… don't know what you're talking about?"

"Serling, you're so obsessed with whatever you're programming that you are literally having trouble talking to me right now."

She clenched her jaw for a few seconds before she forced herself to relax. "Is… is this really the best time?"

I glanced at the other people in the car, before looking back at the scientist with a sigh. "I suppose not." I said as I lifted back into the air. "But we need to talk about this later."

* * *

It was a relief that we made it to the border without incident after that, even if there was a massive number of guns pointed our way as we approached. Most of the land around the border between the North and South Rhelasia had been cleared away to make a barren hillscape that allowed both sides to see the other easily. The part we were coming up on was mostly populated with squat, concrete fortifications, leading up to a heavily guarded bridge to the other nation.

There was a brief tense moment as I 'negotiated' with the North Rhelasian guards to let us pass. Of course, since I couldn't speak Rhelasian, that mostly entailed me handing over my Kord Tech ID and standing around awkwardly while armed men stared intently at me while things were being verified. Fortunately I only had to wait a couple of minutes before the officer waved us all across the bridge.

Once we were on the other side though, the reception wasn't much friendlier. The South Rhelasian soldiers instructed us to head into one of the nearby administration buildings. The lot of us were broken up into different rooms and told to stay there.

Lucky for me, it wasn't long before the door to the room opened. Two Rhelasian soldiers walked in, followed by an officer. Followed by, thankfully, Ted. "Jacob, good to see you in one piece." He said as he sat down on the other side of the table. "Everyone made it back safely, right?"

"Glad to be in one piece, and yeah everyone's fine. But what is all this?" I asked as I gestured to the room.

The officer sat down next to Ted and said "It is standard procedure to debrief civilians that have been in a military incident, especially one that is still ongoing. Any information gained could be crucial, and must be obtained as soon as possible." The man shifted slightly in his seat. "You… are technically a civilian in this context. I am Officer Sung Jung-jin, please tell me everything that has happened since you and your… coworkers crossed into the North."

I wasn't certain of the authority the man might have held over me, but I saw no reason to deny him. So, I gave them a quick recap of everything that had happened since our camp was attacked, going over our brief flight from the country. Officer Sung made me go into detail about the operatives we ran into along the way, what they looked like, what they were capable of. The man jotted down notes while I spoke, but he did very little other than that.

As I wrapped it up, I leaned back in my chair and asked "So, that's everything. Just who are these guys?"

"A faction of the North Rhelasian military," Officer Sung said. "Lead by one of their most highly trained Special Operative groups. Only known by the title War Dogs. Our government has been keeping an eye on them for some time. From what little we know of their training, their members are selected for and trained at a young age. In a very real way, combat is the only life that they know. I imagine that they took issue with the peace treaty being signed."

Ted gave a start and looked at the man. "Wait, what?! I've been asking that for the past hour, and no one has told me anything!"

"You're not a superhero." The man replied coolly before he looked back at me. "The ones you encountered were Dokkaebi and Inmyeonjo. Ah, they are a mythological goblin and bird." He explained. "They are two are among highest ranking operatives of the War Dogs. They in particular have a sordid history. Two decades ago there was an incident in a small-"

"Yeah, whatever. Look," I interrupted. "I left the two of them unconscious and tied to a tree about an hour up the road. Do I really need to know their backstory right now?"

"Oh, ah…" The officer stumbled, not expecting to have his story cut off. "I… suppose not." He collected himself before he said "Are you sure they didn't reveal any specific objective? Any clue as to what their overall plan is?"

I shook my head. "No, couldn't understand them." I paused before I continued. "This is just speculation, but I think those two were trying to steal something from us. They hedged in the caravan without trying to damage it. Well, too much anyway." That first claymore mine would have shredded anyone in the first car. "It's possible they knew that Kord Tech was launching satellites, but didn't know that I was the one doing it. I can see access to obit-reaching rockets being appealing to a military group."

Officer Sung nodded in thought. "That would make sense… the first wave of attacks came in the form of raids on North Rhelasian military bases, stripping out everything before reinforcements could arrive. They're trying to weaken the proper military and strengthen themselves at the same time. Advanced technology would help as well."

Ted pursed his lips. "What other corporations had a presence in the North before this happened?"

"Thankfully, only Lexcorp is of note today, but we haven't been able to get in contact with them."

Ted's expression turned into a full scowl. "I remember hearing some rumors about Luthor selling both the North and the South weapons as part of this treaty."

Officer Sung looked at Ted neutrally, then proceeded to ignore him and look back at me. "At the very least, Machina can relay this information to the Justice League when they inevitably ask about what happened here."

I didn't know what he thought my relationship with the League was, but I didn't question it as I said "I'll be sure to pass it on. Is there anything I can do to help right now?"

"No." The man said firmly. "The North only tolerated your presence as a civilian contractor, and we have been repeatedly assuring them that you were leaving the country as soon as the fighting started. We can handle this affair ourselves."

My mouth twisted a little, but I nodded. It felt… wrong of me to just leave before everything was resolved, but this really wasn't my fight. I guess I was getting used to getting involved in random combat situations that popped up around me on a weekly basis. I should probably be more concerned about that, but for the moment… "So, what happens to us now?"

"I imagine that it will be a while before things calm down enough to let civilians cross the border again." The officer said. "I suggest that you and your coworkers head back to the States for the time being. I don't believe any of this will spill past the border, but…"

Ted let out a sigh, but nodded. "Well, we got most of the net up already. I'll arrange for transport back home for everyone else." He looked at me. "I assume you'll make your own way back?"

I nodded and rose out of my seat. The South's capitol had a Zeta Tube which I had used to get here in the first place. "I should go talk to Serling before I leave, make sure she's all right. Where is she right now?"

"The debriefing for the rest of Kord's employees is happening now, but it will not take long." Sung said. "We have a few people who have been doing nothing but debriefing people since the incident started. Another 15 people shouldn't be that taxing on us."

I made to leave, but what he said made me hesitate for a moment. I turned back to look at him and asked "Wait, are you including me in that number?"

The officer shook his head. "No. I meant that there are 15 Kord Tech employees, and then yourself."

"…We only came here with 14 employees."

We stared at each other for a long movement before we moved at the same time, him shouting into his radio and me sprinting out the door and down the hallway.

=====A=====

A/N: Can you imagine how impenetrable a Metal Gear Solid game would be if you didn't speak the same language as any of the characters involved.


	46. 11-3

=====A=====

I kicked in the door to yet another interrogation room, the seventh I had visited in the past few minutes. Like the others, it was occupied by two soldiers, an interrogator, and a Kord Tech employee (all who showed various levels of alarm/gun raising at my sudden entry). And like the others, I recognized the employee. This wasn't the one either, and now I had cleared out the fourth floor. Without bothering to say anything, I bolted back into the hallway and towards the stairwell leading down to the third floor, worries tumbling through the back of my mind.

When had this extra person joined the convoy? When I was fighting the other two? If so, who knows what they could have done by now. Even as I reached the next floor and headed to the closest room, my mind was already racing with the kind of traps that could have been set up, or hostage situations that could be happening right at that moment.

I threw open the door to the room… only to find it empty. Oh, I guess they probably weren't using every room. Damn it.

" _Jacob!_ " Ted's voice suddenly came on my comm, " _Office Sung just told me that he's not getting a response from anyone on the second floor! Head there now!_ "

I didn't answer, but looking back to the stairs I saw that a bunch of soldiers rushing towards the stairwell. There would be too many people in my way if I tried the stairs again, and if this operative was as dangerous as the last two I had run into they would get torn apart before I could reach the front. Time for the express route.

I ducked back into the room and headed to the back wall, my arm turning into an oversized plasma cutter. I knelt and swiftly cut a hole around myself in the floor. If the layout of the building was consistent, there would be another room similar to the one I was in just below. Just had to hope that there was no one right below at the moment.

I completed the circle, and there was a groan before the floor fell through. I came crashing down through the ceiling and landed on the floor in a heavy crash. Looking up from my crouch, I was only half surprised to find Serling looking at me in surprise. I straightened and said "We have got to stop meeting like this." A quick glance around the room showed she was the only one here, no soldier or interrogators in sight.

"She's trying to get in!" Serling yelled, ignoring my comment and pointing at the door she wedged shut with a propped up chair. "I don't know who, but she took out all the soldiers on the floor, and the ones guarding me went out and didn't come back!"

My eyebrows rose, and I walked to the door. "You're sure she's after you?"

"Of course I am, she was calling my name!" The scientist gripped her laptop in front of herself like a shield, and I saw a mix of desperation and fury in her eyes. "I won't be taken again, I won't!"

I held in a sigh as I focused on the door. Of course they were after Serling. That's why those two attacked the caravan back in the forest. But how did they know that Serling was there? Or even why she was valuable in the first place? The details of the Fog incident were kept under heavy wraps. Whatever the case I'd have to deal with it later, for now I needed to-

At that moment, the door buckled and was blasted apart from small explosion, likely a breaching charge of some sort. I stepped forward as Serling jumped back, and I think I caught most of the debris that flew into the room with my body. "Serling… are you ready to play again?" a voice called out in English. My attention was focused on the figure behind the settling dust…. And I was caught off guard by just who it was.

It was a slender woman with a mane of long black hair. She was dressed much like many of the other Kord Tech employees in an over shirt and cargo pants, with a vest thrown on over the top. The main difference though was the mask she wore over her face, white with red marking and reminiscent of a kabuki mask twisted into the visage of a grinning feline.

Unlike the two War Dogs I had run into, I knew who this was the moment I saw her. The mask made it clear who this was and what they were after, as I had come across her when browsing the League's criminal database. This was Cheshire, an assassin for the League of Shadows.

I stepped over the rubble of the door, looking at the woman as I straightened. "I'm your Huckleberry."

Upon seeing me, Cheshire became tense and stepped back. She didn't expect me to be here. "Sorry, you're a little too big to be my dance partner." I lunged for her, but she swiftly jumped to the side before turning and sprinting down the hallway in the other direction.

My arm shifted and lashed out before firing off a bolt of lightning, but she had already rounded the corner and was out of sight by the time it launched. I held back a curse and sprinted after her, moving as fast as I could without slamming into the walls (and trying not to step on the several bodies littering the floor). As I moved around the corner though, there was the slight _tink_ of something hitting the ground before the flashbang she had tossed behind her went off.

Fortunately for me, flashbangs were weapons against retinas and eardrums, of which I had neither. I was only distracted for a half second before I spotted my target again, ducking into the second doorway on the right. I barely slowed down as I continued to chase after her, but I was a little more caution now. This was an assassin from the League of Shadows, who I knew had fought with metahumans before. She may be a baseline human, but I couldn't underestimate her.

I heard the shattering of glass the moment before I ran into the room after her, and sure enough the room was empty save for a broken window. Rushing to said window I saw my target bouncing of the roof of a truck below before hitting the ground. I hurled myself out after her, throwing myself out farther than she did and twisting in the air to face her as I flew past the truck. I fired off another bolt at her, but even as I started moving Cheshire took out a small bag and tossed it at me. The electricity arced towards it and stuck, causing the bag to explode and scatter its contents of dark colored sand. The electricity fizzled out in the expanding cloud.

 _Iron sand?_ I wondered to myself as I hit the ground. She was already moving by the time I pulled my arm up again, specifically towards a pair of alarmed looking soldiers. I held my fire for a second as she reached them and ducked between them, capitalizing on their confusion to lash out with a couple of well placed strikes to their necks which caused them to drop. She then slipped around a pile of supply crates as she tried to put more distance between us. I ran after her, taking a brief moment to make sure that those soldiers were still alive before I followed.

The next minute or so or chasing the assassin was a mess. The woman constantly changed direction, hugged corners, dove into buildings, and generally tried to break line of sight as much as possible. The base was on alert at this point, but most of the soldiers that tried to join the chase either couldn't keep up, or just got in the way when I tried to use a ranged option. As all this was going on, there was something bothering me about Cheshire's actions.

Why was she going deeper into the base? I would have expected her to try to head for a gate or wall to get away, but every turn she had made was her trying to stay in. After a moment's thought, I realized that everything around where we were was open plains; there was no place for her to hide, and she certainly couldn't outrun me. She needed to lose me in the crowd, then find another way to slip away. Which, to be honest, she might actually succeed at. It was possible that I might tire her out by chasing her, but I gave it even odds that she would get lucky and slip away, given how she was handling me thus far. She probably did her homework on me, too.

So, it was time to pull a new trick out of my hat.

I stopped when I saw Cheshire duck into yet another building, my outer surface rippled as it was replaced by a mesh of interlocking and spiraling rectangles, vaguely resembling bismuth crystals. A moment later I activated the Optical Camo field emitter I formed at my waist and ran it through the mesh. Looking at my arm I could mostly see through it, though there was some smearing of colors as I moved. _Going to have to work on that later,_ I thought to myself as I reconfigured my internals for burst flight mode. I then jumped into the air and over the building, coming to an abrupt stop about 30 feet up trying to stay as still as possible.

I only had to wait a few seconds before Cheshire jumped out the window of the building, rolling to her feet and snapping her head around to see if I was pursuing. Her gaze swept over my position in the air, but she didn't give any indication that she saw me as she then sprinted to the next nearest cluster of buildings. From my position in the air I could see several of the soldiers that had been chasing after her as well start to close in. Rather than moving into the nearest structure however, Cheshire hurled the crowbar she was holding (where'd she get that?) at the closest window before juking off to the side.

As she ran out of sight, the soldiers who caught up saw the broken window and rushed into the building, leaving no one to notice as she took off in the direction of the motorpool. _Clever_. I carefully followed behind her in the air, stopping anytime her head turned anywhere close in my direction. The assassin finally slowed down after she vaulted a low concrete wall and landed next to a large supply truck.

She held still in that narrow space between the truck and the wall for a long moment before she reached underneath the vehicle and pulled out a canvas bag. It was hard to tell, but it looked like the bag had been affixed to the truck's underside. _Now that's interesting_ , I thought as I silently drifted down behind her. The woman was taking a change of clothes out of the bag (a military uniform by the look of it) as I touched the ground. I slowly reached out to her back-

Cheshire suddenly spun, a sai in hand as she lashed out at my head. _Bloody super assassin instincts_ , I thought. Still, it seemed she hadn't realized it was me sneaking up on her, so she opted to attack rather than run. And that gave me my opening.

I didn't try to dodge the attack coming at the side of my head. Instead, I softened that side of my head, and reached up to trap her hand as the blade sunk up to the hilt in my 'skull'. I winced at the pain, but I had moved anything important out of the area, and my hand closed around her wrist.

Gotcha. She wasn't able to pull away from me as my other hand grabbed her by the neck. I lifted her up and pinned her to the wall, my hand expanding to form a sort of restraint around her chest. She kicked at me as hard as she could, but she didn't have the strength or leverage to really do anything. I ripped the sai out of her hand (and my head), and then the one out of her other hand that she pulled shortly after. I formed several mechadendrite limbs to grab and pin her hands and legs to the wall. She finally settled down after that. "Well," she said in a husky voice, looking me up and down as the optical camo faded from my body. "It's been a long time since anyone has had me pinned like this."

"I know, getting away from work is hard." I said, my free hand formed into a scanner and sweeping it up and down her body in search of weapons. "Personally, I recommend finding someone with shared interests and work, makes it much easier for you to spend time together." I then started reaching into various parts of her outfit to pull out any hidden weapons or gear I could find. Of which there was a fair number of knives, small grenades, and a few devices which appeared to be remote controls or radio transmitters of some sort (which I promptly disabled). After doing this for a few seconds a thought occurred to me, and I reached up and removed the woman's mask. "Oh, and for the record, this is a completely professional search."

A very attractive, vaguely Asian face looked at me with an amused expression. "And here I thought you were propositioning me," She continued seemingly unconcerned at my rifling through her pockets. I gave her look, and she shrugged as best she could. "It wouldn't have been the first time. Most of the men I interact with have a very… aggressive approach. "

"Ah, so it's a dating pool problem then. Well, you may have to look to the hero side of the fence to get around that particular problem." I said as I finished my search. The clamp pinning her to the wall expanded into a full brace around her torso. I pulled her off the wall (keeping her hands in sight with my other limbs) and continued. "Anyway, I don't suppose you mind telling me just why you're trying to abscond with Dr. Roquette again? I would have thought you'd be out of Rhelasia after that whole assassination attempt a few weeks ago." I had only gotten some of the details about the event from Kaldur, but I knew she had been there when the League of Shadows had attacked the peace conference.

"We were just so impressed with her the last time, we had to invite her back." She said airily.

"And you just happened to be here while the North Rhelasian coup is going on? With a stashed bag containing a South Rhelasian military uniform?" I reached out with my foot and picked up the canvas bag off the ground, peering inside. "...And a North Rhelasian military uniform to boot."

"Just a coincidence. So embarrassing that we're dressing the same."

I grunted as I started hauling her back towards the administration building. I wasn't about to take her word on that, but my training thus far hadn't included interrogation techniques. And even if they had, odds were I still wouldn't be able to get anything out of the highly trained assassin. But that didn't abate my urgency for information. Just what the hell was going on? If the Shadows were trying to kidnap Serling again, what did the War Dogs have to do with this? Was it really a coincidence like she said, or was there something more to it?

It didn't take long before I was back at the administration building, and I found a small crowd of soldiers waiting for me. Officer Sung pushed his way to the front of the group and stopped in front of me, giving both me and my captive a critical eye. "Machina, good to see you've apprehended the target. Though, I don't recognize-"

"This is Cheshire." I cut him off. "She's a member of the League of Shadows, not the War Dogs. Or, at least she was last time I checked."

"I'm really more of a cat person," Cheshire said coyly, somehow managing to move her hips a little while restrained. "Though I hope I wasn't being too subtle with the mask."

I ignored her, and Officer Sung looked between me and her with worry. "The ones behind the attack on the peace conference? What is one of them doing here? Have they allied themselves with the coup forces?"

"Not sure, she's being tight lipped. However, she did admit that she personally is here to kidnap onr of our scientists. Lucky for us, I was here too. Cheshire's a tricky one, but I managed to get her before she did any real damaged."

It was then that Cheshire's voice lost its husky tone, and became something far more familiar and sardonic as she said "Oh yeah, because capturing a nearly unarmed baseline human is _so_ hard for a nigh unstoppable technomorphic war machine."

I threw my hands up. "Why you gotta undercut me like that, Cheshire?!" I yelled, before I froze in confusion. Where the hell had that come from?

The woman seemed pleased by the reaction she managed to elicit. "Oh, so that's the kind of man you are, huh?"

"The hell is that supposed to mean?"

"In any case," the officer interrupted. "I thank you again for your assistance, but we are still in the middle of an ongoing military incident. You can hand us the prisoner and be on your-"

"No." I said firmly. "With a member of the League of Shadows here, that necessitates that the Justice League investigates. And I remember that she was broken out of custody the last time she was held prisoner in this country, mere hours after her arrest. Which is to say nothing of how she had a bag full of disguises hidden underneath one of your trucks." I held up the bag in question. "Odds are, she has help, and they're already here."

The officer's face settled into a scowl. "You are close to overstepping your bounds. I highly suggest that you leave."

"I'm only going to stay until the League gets here to pick her up." I said. I doubted the League wanted me in this mess any more than the Rhelasians did. "Until then, I'm staying to guard the prisoner and my coworkers. Most likely, someone's going to-"

Naturally, this is when I heard an explosion from the Northern side of the border.

=====A=====

A/N: Artemis had to learn it from somewhere.

Cutting this one a bit short, as the chapter was running long and I'm dealing with some holiday stuff at the moment. Happy Holidays everyone!


	47. 11-4

=====A=====

"For God's sake, can I just get five minutes?!" I yelled up at the heavens before turning to look towards the border. Sure enough there were a few trails of smoke leading up into the sky. I then glanced back at my captive. "Friends of yours?"

Cheshire was looking in the direction of the smoke as well, and for once she looked concerned. "I wouldn't count on it..."

I frowned. Again, I couldn't take her at face value, but… I looked back at the officer. "Can you all handle this?"

Officer Sung's face was a picture of controlled panic. "If this is more of the War Dogs, then no. We were expecting them at much more critical border points, not here. We don't have the special assets or fire power here to repel them."

A small growl escaped my throat. I knew what was going to happen, I just did. But if this was another War Dog and was as tough as the last two, I was the only one here that could stop them before they did too much damage. I looked at the two soldiers closest to me. "If she escapes while I handle this, I'm going to be very cross with both of you." I said as I moved Cheshire towards them. I released my hold as soon as they had a firm grip on her, and she was swiftly put into cuffs.

Officer Sung stepped up. "You can't cross the border!" He said quickly. "Only fight them if they try to cross the bridge, otherwise it might cause an incident! Judging by the fire, I would say this is Bulgae, he has strength, invulnerability, and the ability to emit flames. Lately he has been seen partnered with Chollima, though her abilities are not well known, she is difficult to track. Be careful."

I nodded in assent before I took off, heading towards the bridge. As I did I called Ted. "Ted, we've got new bad guys coming in from the North. Please tell me that you and everyone else is safe."

" _Yeah, about that…_ " Ted's tone over the comm was dry. " _We're all fine now, but I would have appreciated if you had stuck around for a bit longer. Turns out a few of the South Rhelasian soldiers are on someone else's payroll. I caught them trying to abscond with Serling out the back of the building after you took off after the operative._ "

"What?!" I yelled, both in panic and in anger at myself. God damn it, this is why I hated working alone! "Where is she? Is she alright?"

" _She's fine, I managed to stop them. I did say I had a few tricks up my sleeve,_ " Ted trailed off for a moment, and I was reminded that while he hadn't taken up the mantle quite yet, Ted Kord was still the Blue Beetle at heart. He then continued " _Serling is… she's stressed, but I'm sure she'll be fine. What about that other operative you chased out, do we still have to worry about them?_ "

"I captured her and handed her over to Sung, but she wasn't part of the Coup forces Ted. She was a League of Shadows agent. It's clear they're trying to kidnap Serling again."

" _Wait, you mean Serling was right?!_ " He exclaimed before there was a lot of muffled voices on the other side. After a moment his voice came back. " _Then, what do the Coup forces have to do with this? Why did they go after you on the way back to the border?_ "

"Look, I don't really understand what's happening either. But you need to get Serling and the rest of your people out of here now. I don't care how you do it or where you go, but this place is not safe. Get out now."

In short order I was standing in front of the bridge leading to the North, a number of South Rhelasian soldiers hunkered down behind nearby barricades and looking north warily. I slowly started to walk forward to get a better view, but there wasn't much to see from the bridge. I could see several Northern soldiers and a tank running to the closest pillar of smoke, but the source was nowhere in sight. Still, from the looks of things the trail of destruction was getting closer.

I stopped just short of the center of the bridge, glancing to the side to look at the river about 20 meters below. I briefly wondered if I should be looking out for someone trying to stealthily cross beneath, but I got the impression Bulgae wasn't the stealthy sort.

Sure enough, is was only a few seconds later that I saw something arc through the air, slamming into the bridge like a burning meteor. Straightening up from his landing was a massive Rhelasian man stripped to the waist, heat and flame pouring off of his body in bursts. The veins under his skin burned and flowed with molten red light, A few bullets pelted him from both sides of the bridge, but they didn't even make a scratch on his muscular frame.

The man stopped and looked me up and down before a grin formed on his face. He said something in Rhelasian as he started to walk towards me with an easy stride. I sighed before interrupting him. "Look, if you're giving me your villain speech, you need to do it in English, because I'm not going to understand it otherwise."

This actually caused him stop and look at me in confusion for a few moments before he shrugged. When he spoke again, this time it was in heavily accented English. "The woman. The scientist. You are her protector, correct?"

"Mayhaps."

"Good."

The man surged forwards, his feet leaving craters in the asphalt as he charged at me. One of my arms formed into a sonic cannon and fired at the ground in front of him, tearing up the surface of the bridge. The man stumbled and slowed over the sudden rough terrain, though he didn't stop. Still, it gave me enough time to finish forming my other arm into a much heavier sonic cannon and open fire on him directly. The man, having lost his forward momentum, was forced to a stop by the waves of sound. His face twisted as he tried to push himself forward, but the concrete beneath him crumbled from the combined force of his legs and my attack. It only took a few seconds of this before the bridge let out a groan, and that entire section collapsed underneath him, sending the man plummeting to the water below.

 _If only it were that easy_ , I thought to myself, my arms shifting back to normal as I glanced down at the now boiling water. That wouldn't be enough to take the man down. I was going to have to keep him off balance if I wanted to maintain control of the-

Suddenly, I realized there was someone standing off to my side on the guardrail of the bridge. The lithe figure was a woman, dressed in similar tactical gear as the ones I had faced earlier. I noticed that this one had a number of blades strapped to her person, as well as arm and shin guards made of some kind of white metal. She was also perfectly still, it didn't even seem like she was breathing as she stared at me behind her mask.

Chollima, I presumed. My head tilted to the side a little. "Ok, I've already dealt with a femme fatale assassin type today, so if you could just-"

The movement was so fast I could barely track it. The woman's form blurred as she darted forward in a zigzag pattern, bouncing off a nearby lamppost before coming straight at me. I stepped to the side as fast as I could, but the blade in her hand still managed to slice through part of my neck as she moved past me.

I keep my eye on her as she slid to a stop, surprised at how she had managed to do anything to me with what looked like a simple knife. My neck wasn't particularly well armored, but even without the kinetic dampeners… actually, I had felt an odd fluctuation in them the moment the knife had had contact.

The woman was also surprised, if for a different reason. She held the blade that had cut me up to her face and found it warped and dulled. She muttered something I couldn't make out before she tossed the weapon aside and drew another.

 _A speedster? Something like that, but there's more to it_ , I thought as my neck healed itself. Going to have to be careful with this one, if she has something a bit longer than a knife she might just start going for my limbs.

Of course it was at that moment I felt the bridge start to rumble beneath my feet, and I threw myself forward just in time to avoid Bulgae erupting from the spot I just occupied. "Dirty trick." He snarled, the air around him wavering from the heat pouring off of him as pulled himself up. He let out a growl before he charged me again.

I brought my arm up with the intent of blasting the ground at his feet again, but before I finished the motion the woman blurred across my front and knocked my arm aside. I was forced to dodge back to avoid the wide swing from Bulgae, and I tried again. But each time I tried to get my footing the woman sped in and struck one of my limbs, not enough to really hurt me, but always knocking me off balance, keeping me from attacking before Bulgae was on me. I was forced to keep stumbling back until I got to the end of the bridge. At that point, I changed my tactics.

As I came to a stop, I made a show of focusing on the large man bearing down on me, but I was still paying attention to the woman with my blindsight to my left. I was getting a handle of when she liked to attack, just before I made any large action. Sure enough as I pulled my right arm back her form blurred again, but at the same instant I activated the Psion shield emitter I had formed on my left arm. Chollima bounced off the large pane of energy that covered my left flank, giving me time to plant my feet and finish forming the piston driver with my right arm.

With speed that surprised Bulgae, I swung my arm forward. The piston fired at the moment of impact, slamming into his face with shattering force.

The man barely slowed down.

"…ah, sh-" was as far as I managed to get before his fist came around and slammed me in the chest, cracking my chest plate and sending me flying backwards through the concrete wall of a building behind me. I tumbled through several tables before I slammed into the opposite wall. It took me a second to pull myself to my feet, and I winced as the burned nanites from the fist impact flaked off my chest.

I existed in a surprisingly sparse middle ground when it came to physical strength, at least practically speaking. It meant that most of the time when I faced off against someone with superhuman strength, I could either just physically overpower them or be overpowered in turn. Trying to boost my strength beyond what I could use in my standard combat form was possible, but it made me far bulkier and slower as I dedicated most of my mass to the task. Definitely not worth in in this scenario. I ran back toward the hole I had made in time to see Bulgae running towards me, and I readied myself to redirect his momentum.

Before he could reach me though, something large and fiery slammed into his chest, sending him flying back and tearing up the ground as he tumbled. A moment later the fiery mane flipped to the side so that the one responsible could give me an exasperated expression. "I'm starting to wonder if you are a magnet for trouble," Starfire said. "It seems you can't go a week without getting involved in some conflict or another."

The black and white blur then come at us, but was stopped short as several bolts of energy fell from the sky and impacted the ground between us. A familiar red and grey trike dropped out of the air next to me. [I am sure that the Prime is merely using conflict as a means to collect data.] Rommie said.

"I swear I'm not doing it intentionally," I replied, relieved that Ted did in fact call in the reinforcements I had asked. I looked around before looking back at Starfire, "Is it just you two?"

Her attention was focused on the brute of a man pulling himself to his feet, but she replied "Yes. The rest of our team are engaged in… other activities."

I suppose that was to be expected. Kaldur was back in Atlantis, and M'gann and Connor (the boy _finally_ picked the name, which meant I didn't have to keep catching myself from calling him that) were infiltrating a prison at the moment. And the rest were in school. "What about the rest of the League?"

"They are aware of the situation, but are holding at the border. They are making sure that the situation does not spill into civilian populations."

"That needs to change, the League of Shadows are here too. They tried to kidnap Serling again. And these guys want her too." The man finished pulling himself out of the shallow crater that Starfire put him in, looking at us warily. I rolled my shoulders and after a moment's consideration I said. "You take this guy. There's a speedster running around who was able to cut me, and she might be able to hurt you too. I'll handle her, but be on your guard."

Starfire nodded and shot forward, her fist colliding with her opponent's as she matched his charge. There was a massive crash and the ground cratered beneath both of them, but neither gave up ground. The man was surprised for an instant (likely the first time anyone had ever matched his strength), but his expression quickly changed to a blood thirsty grin.

There's one in every assassin squad, I guess.

I left Starfire to her own fight as I honed back in the more nimble assassin, only to find her ducking out of sight around the corner of nearby building. _Oh for god's sake not again_ , I thought before I yelled to Rommie "Cut her off, try to restrict her movements!"

The trike beeped in confirmation before taking off into the air. I then followed after the speedster, resigning myself to another chase. Except, the moment I turned the corner I threw myself to the ground in response to the woman suddenly turning about and launching herself at me. Her blade scraped across my chest, a shallow gouge carving into my chest as both fiery and electric sparks flaked off.

 _She always moves in straight line movements when accelerating_ , I noted as she once again bounced off another wall to launch herself at me, pulling yet another knife as she did so. She wasn't running from me, she was trying to take me out. And to that end, I needed to keep dodging, give her the impression that she was a threat to me. If she knew otherwise she would start to either focus on disabling me or just run away. And quite frankly I wanted to handle this as soon as possible.

Rommie flew in low and strafed from above, more energy bolts raining down on the operative's position. The woman was too fast though, simply dancing away in a series of quick steps. _Have to restrict her movements_ , I thought, and I stepped back out into an open space as I formed a freeze cannon. I swept my arm out and froze the ground in an arc around me, watching my target's movement's carefully. I was then caught off guard when she didn't hesitate to come at me, making hard turns on the icy dirt as if it wasn't there. She went for knees this time, but I was starting to get used to her movements and managed to twist away before she made contact. _I know that would have worked on Kid Flash_ , I thought. She's manipulating her momentum directly somehow.

My assailant then paused her motion for a few seconds, her head snapping between me and the oncoming Rommie. She then reached into one of her pouches and tossed out a handful of pellets which, predictably, caused a massive cloud of smoke to burst out and form around us. My vision was blocked, so I simply turned up the power of my blindsight to compensate, with a wider range of frequencies. When the next attack came from my left I was ready for it. But as I stepped back out of the way I noticed that the attack missed by a surprisingly wide margin.

I froze where I was, considering things. It could have been that the smoke reduced her accuracy as much as mine, but I highly doubted that the assassin didn't know how to fight blind. Which meant… hmm. I never had the chance to test using my sonic weaponry's disabling potential against human targets (instead of throwing them around), but if that reaction was what it looked like, now was good time to try.

[Rommie, harry her around me so that she's forced to come at my back.] I signaled to the flying trike, dialing back my blindsight in that moment. [I mean to take her by surprise.]

[Forthwith!] she replied, and a moment later she made good on it by sweeping in front of me and letting loose a barrage of bolts. Chollima danced away from the fire and out of sight, but I had a sense of where Rommie was moving to. I made a show of looking around while the structure of my back changed slightly.

I only had to wait a few seconds before Rommie forced the woman into position behind me, and sure enough she made another attack at me. And at that moment I turned up my blindsight power and activated the shield emitter I had formed on my back. And, sure enough, she slammed into me and bounced off.

I turned to face her, and I immediately opened fire with my sonic cannon. Unlike when I normally used the weapon though, this time I had it configured to emit in the ultrasound range with a toned down amplitude. The woman stumbled as she gripped her head, convulsing a little as I was sure she tried to keep her lunch down. She tried to dash away, but she only made it a few strides before she tumbled to the ground, skidding across the dirt before she come to a stop. I quickly retrained my aim on her and advanced, reaching the woman before she could get to her feet.

My other hand reached out and grabbed her, channeling electricity into her body. She didn't drop immediately, to my surprise, instead her body starting to blur and vibrate underneath my grip. She was doing something to absorb the electricity and convert it into movement. Still, my grip held firm, and I persisted as I held the sonic cannon closer to her head. She held on for a few more seconds before she couldn't focus anymore and the vibration cut out. The electricity coursed through her and she went slack in my grip.

I cut off the cannon and slung Chollima over my shoulder, looking around for someone to hand her off to. Unfortunately, it seemed that my sonic attack wasn't as focused as I might have wished, as the closest people were stumbling due to vertigo. I frowned, and then walked up to a nearby concrete wall of a building, punching my hand into it in search of rebar. A minute later I was walking away from the assassin, tied up with rebar and affixed to a wall. One down, one to go.

Before I could do anything else, Starfire suddenly slammed into the wall next to me, the concrete cracking from the impact. I could tell that the only reason that she didn't go through it entirely was that she managed to slow herself down first, but she still staggered a little as she pulled herself off the wall. I then noticed the tears and burns on her uniform, and the small amount of blood running down the side of her head. "Starfire!" I rushed over and pulled her to her feet.

She pulled herself up straight, keeping her eyes firmly on the burning man walking towards us. "This one is… difficult. More than I anticipated." She said. "He is stronger than Superboy, and is resistant to my starbolts."

I turned more fully to regard the enemy operative, my mind going through the options available. This was going to be tricky, but with both Starfire and I (and Rommie), I was sure that we could take him down.

Bulgae actually stopped about ten meters away from us, his expression twisting into a scowl when he saw me. "You defeated Chollima?" He scoffed. "Useless. Like the others."

I took a few steps forward. "Guess you found where I left your colleagues already, huh?" Damn, I had hoped that the South Rhelasians could-

"Found and dealt with."

That caused me to stop, and I felt Starfire go still next to me. "Dealt with?" she asked, her tone tense. "What do you mean?"

Bulgae gave a vicious grin. "No place for weakness among us. Failures are disposed of."

Starfire froze in a mix of surprise and shock… but a moment later the flames that flowed off her hair increased in volume. A low growl came from her throat before she moved, kicking off the ground with an explosion of dirt. "How dare you?!"

"It was-"The man was cut off as her fist collided with the arm he raised to block her attack. Clearly, after they had matched strength a minute earlier, he had expected to win the exchange. Or at least hold her back.

I heard a sharp crack, and his limb bent the wrong way slightly.

It was easy to forget with Koriand'r, but Tamaranian tempers could run pretty hot when provoked. And the strength increase from that anger was a lot more than you'd expect. At the moment, if my guess was correct, Starfire could have given Wonder Woman some trouble.

The man stumbled back in shock, or at least tried to. Starfire quickly grabbed the arm she just broke and _wrenched_ , the man screaming as the pain intensified. As his jaw opened though, Starfire's other arm came around and slapped itself over his open mouth. I saw green light flare between her fingers before there was a muffled blast, and Bulgae choked on plasma as he was rocked backwards.

Starfire stalked after him as he tried to keep his footing, her entire hair now a blazing inferno. The man took a swing as she got back into range, but she merely smashed the limb aside before punching him in the chest. She rained blow after blow down on him, pushing him back even further until she jumped up in the air a short ways before coming back down with a scream, her hands clasped together in a vicious hammer blow.

The ground cratered, dust kicking up and exploding out in every direction. When it cleared a few seconds later it revealed Bulgae on his back a few feet down, and Starfire standing over him. "W-wait!" The man said, holding up his non-broken arm. "I surrender! I-" He was cut off as her foot came down on the limb, slamming it into the ground with shattering force. She didn't stop there, continuing to pummel him even more into the ground with her fists.

I had hung back, because it hardly looked like she needed my help. But after the first ten seconds of her assault I was starting to get a little concerned… and after twenty seconds unabated I got more concerned.

Wondering if I was risking getting throttled myself, I swiftly moved up next to Starfire and grabbed her arm as she pulled it back. "Starfire, I think he's done."

Her head snapped back towards me, fury still in her eyes. I made a small motion with my head, and her gaze turning to see all of the soldiers moving up to secure the operative. She then looked back down at the source of her fury, bloody, broken and barely conscious beneath her. She hesitated for a moment longer before she out a long breath and got to her feet, briskly walking away from the crater. It looked like she needed to cool off a bit. The last time I had seen her that angry… well, technically I hadn't 'seen' her, but I clearly remembered how she reduced several of the Psions to smears on the wall.

I caught up to her as she stopped and walked in front of her, my arm already turning in a medical scanner to take stock of her injuries. She tried to wave me off. "Stop, I am fin-"

She was cut off as I stepped in close and my free hand pressed itself over her mouth. She was confused for a moment before she let out an exasperated groan (muffled as it was from my hand). Still, she did seem to be calming down. I took that time to give her a quick scan, and to my relief she was mostly fine. A few cuts and burns, and one of her ribs was slightly bruised, but she could heal from that pretty quick.

"You're fussing." She said softly after pulling my hand away.

"As is my right as both your medic and boyfriend." I replied in the same tone before looking her in the eyes. "Now, want to tell me what that was about?"

"I am-" She started before she noticed my free hand slowly start to make its back up again. She gave me a flat look for a long moment before she reached up and gently pulled my hand down again. "Jacob," she said reproachfully. "I am not apologizing for my actions. The man was horrid, and someone who would betray their own teammate like that cannot be trusted. Such a man would continue to resist if he were merely subdued as well. The only way to beat him was to crush him completely. It was not something I did out of a loss of control of myself." As she said this she squeezed my hand a little.

I stared at her for a long moment, gauging her as she looked firmly back at me. Eventually, I squeezed her hand back before dropping my arm. "Alright." She… seemed to be sincere. This was far from the first time I had seen her so aggressive in combat, it was just a bit unsettling to see her take it so far this time. I suppose some mercurialness was to be expected from the Tamaranian. "Have you contacted the League, told them about the Shadows?"

She shook her head. "No, I was too focused on my own battles."

"Same," I said with a sigh. There was just too much happening too quickly, and I was having trouble dealing with it. I was always the type of person to focus on one thing at a time and prioritize, it was how I worked best. Giving me multiple things I had to do at once usually resulted in me neglecting something.

 _You'd think being made out of a distributed swarm would fix that_ , I thought as I switched my comm to the secure Justice League frequency. "This is Machina, priority two. Cheshire has just been captured trying to kidnap Serling Roquette at the South Rhelasian boarder outpost we tried to cross. In addition, several South Rhelaisan soldiers tried to kidnap her shortly after that. Cheshire's in custody, but there is a lot evidence that there are more personnel at this base compromised by the League of Shadows. Please advise."

I waited for a response-

Suddenly there was a flash of green in front of me. I was halfway into turning my arm into a cannon before I realized what, or more accurately who, I was looking at. "Well, this is a bit more of a direct response than I was expecting. And immediate."

Lantern Jordan gave me a small nod, floating in the air a few feet in front of me. "I was already on my way to provide assistance. Sorry I couldn't get here sooner." He glanced around at the destruction around us. "Though I suppose you managed on your own."

I rolled my eyes, but I gave him a quick debrief on everything that had happened since that morning, Starfire filling in with what she had experienced as well. The Green Lantern listened to us with a growing frown, and when we stopped he let out a groan. "Man, I miss the days when it was just beat up the bad guy and go home. The League is going to have to investigate this for sure." He then swept his ring hand in an arc in front of him, no doubt scanning the area. His eyes lingered on the broken and battered form of Bulgae for a moment, the man being secured in heavy restraints by soldiers. He turned back to me. "Well, the situation here is secure. You… did a good job. I'll take over from here."

I arched an eyebrow. "Are you sure? Because things are kind of crazy at the moment, and if it's just you…"

The man kept his expression neutral, but he did hesitate for a few seconds. "I can handle things at this outpost, including the Cheshire." He eventually said. "However… you do have a point. You said she was after Dr. Roquette, right?"

I nodded. "As well as the Coup forces. That guy confirmed it." I said, gesturing over my shoulder.

The Green Lantern nodded again. "Right, you and Starfire keep her safe, get her out of the country. The League will handle the situation with Shadows." And with that he turned and floated away, heading right for Officer Sung.

I looked after him for a moment before shrugging to myself. That whole conversation felt a bit stilted for some reason, but I didn't feel like calling him out on it. I had been trying to get out of there ever since this whole incident started anyway, and I had been planning on keeping Serling safe no matter what he told me.

Thankfully, there were no more explosions when we tried to leave.

* * *

Jeongsin City, the South Rhelasian capital, was similar to its counterpart from my world in that it was less than fifty miles from the northern border. As such it was only a few hours later that I found myself in the main office for Kord Tech's South Rhelasian branch, staring out the window as Ted talked on the phone behind me. The building was located at the norther edge of the city along the river, giving me a clear view towards the north. Not that there was much to see at the moment, but I still felt like I had to keep my eye on it.

"Wonderful, thank you," I heard Ted say before he hung up the phone. "Alright, the plane's booked and leaving tonight. It was a bit of a mess considering all the flights were grounded at the start of all this, but I was able to finagle something."

I grunted. "Good to know," I said. I wondered if that meant Kori and Rommie could head back to the Mountain, but I decided against it. Lantern Jordan said my job was to keep Serling safe, and I wasn't going to consider that done until we were all back in the States. Beside, Kori preferred to be out and about whenever possible, so her being on overwatch around the city at the moment was likely fine for her.

Ted titled his head a bit. "So… can you give me a status report of how things are going? I know you're hooked into the League's network, and I would appreciate no more surprises."

"Things have settled down, at least a little," I said, pacing in front of the tall window. "The fighting has stopped for the moment and everyone has settled into defensive positions to lick their wounds. While the Coup forces have some territory, the North Rhelasian government is still in control of the country."

Ted sat down on the edge of his desk wearily. Now that I was looking at him fully, I could make out a number of things hidden on his person. The faint impression of some kind of mesh underneath his clothes, a belt that was too large and had a number of creases indicating compartments. And the outline of a small shoulder holster under his dress shirt. "This is going to get worse before it gets better, isn't it?"

I hesitated. "Maybe… but maybe not. All the data I could get my hands on showed that the Coup forces really don't have the manpower or gear for a prolonged campaign. That's probably why they went after Serling. They needed something more to press their advantage after the initial surprise assault."

Ted hummed, and we both fell into an awkward silence at the mention of the elephant in the room. The man glanced back at the computer on the desk and frowned at what the video feed on it showed him. "She's still working…"

The instant we had gotten back to the city, Serling had locked herself in a lab and refused to come out. The entire time she had been typing away on her laptop, programming whatever had captured her interest since that experiment in the tent. "You're _sure_ that there's nothing in that lab she can turn into something terrifying?" The last thing we needed was for her to make another Fog in a fit of panic.

"For the last time, yes. That lab only has workstations and some biometric equipment. And I guess her luggage. Nothing even close to nanotech."

I sighed. "I need to talk to her. I had hoped that she would calm down by now, but I've already waited longer than I'm comfortable with. With both the League of Shadows and the War Dogs after her, I want to take her back through the Zeta Tubes as soon as possible. In fact, I'm willing to drag her through one if it comes down to it."

Ted frowned, but nodded. "That's.. probably for the best. If we go talk to her together, I think we might have a better shot of convincing her of doing it of her own accord. Though…" he paused for a long moment, an uncommon expression of doubt crossing his features as he looked off to the side.

"What?" I asked.

He turned to look at me for a long moment before he asked "Jacob, are you romantically interested in Serling?"

I blinked, completely taken off guard by the non-sequitur. "Ah… no. No, I'm actually dating Starfire." I paused. "Why, are you?"

I was only half surprised when the man said "Of course I am, why wouldn't I be? She's beautiful, has a wonderfully sharp tongue, and so brilliant that when we argue she's actually right some of the time. I know this is an odd time to ask, but I imagine that our conversation with Serling is going to get emotionally charged. I just want all the context possible before that happens."

"Ah, alright." I said awkwardly. After a few seconds curiosity got the better of me and I asked "If that's the case, timing notwithstanding, why haven't you asked her out yet? I think you might have better luck than you seem to be assuming."

Ted gave a small grimace. "Ah, I feel that I worked against myself in that regard by working with her so closely. At the moment we have a good professional relationship, and while I am willing to attempt mixing in a personal one, I'm worried about how she'll see it. Can you imagine how badly she would take it if she thought I was putting up with her work because I wanted her physically? Or worse, that I was seducing her in order to steal her work away from her?"

"…she probably would think that last one was worse." I muttered.

Ted gestured vaguely. "In any case, before I can do anything I need to convince Serling that both my professional and personal interest in her are separate and equally important." He sighed. "It is a particularly _difficult_ problem."

I snorted. "Well that's one you're going to have to solve on your own. I got lucky with a woman who's very straightforward and emotionally open." I glanced back out the window to see if Kori was in view, but she was elsewhere at the moment. "In any case, right now we need to-"

I only noticed it because I happened to be looking at the river, a certain symmetry of waves on both shores. And I only saw it at this distance due to my superhuman vision. For the first instant I wondered if it was an odd coincidence, but then I saw the effect continue to propagate down the river towards me. And it was getting more pronounced. It took me a few seconds to realize what this reminded me of: the edge of a ship's wake.

"…oh, come on."

Ahead of this wake a bulge started to form in the middle of the river, getting more and more pronounced as it picked up speed.

"Oh come on!"

Right as the disturbance reached the closest point in the river to our building, the bulge exploded upwards. Launching itself out of the water was a massive dark green shape, looking like a flat cylinder with the front end wider than the back. At the top of its arc the thing unfolded outwards, arms and legs taking shape from the main body. The mech landed on the shoreline with a crash I felt from where I was, and as it reared up numerous weapons folded out of its torso and arms. Its head was mostly recessed into its torso, but it still arched back and let out a mechanical scream.

I stared at this for a long moment before I facepalmed. "Maybe I am a magnet for trouble…"

=====A=====

A/N: Koriand'r has a bit of a thing when it comes to betrayal...


	48. 11-5

=====A=====

I didn't let my exasperation hold me back for long, and a few seconds later I was out the window and flying at the mecha heading towards the city. Ted was already scrambling to notify all of his employees and security by the time I cleared the windowsill. I didn't bother telling him to look after Serling, as I was sure the man could handle that himself by this point. For now I would need to focus all of my attention on the latest problem today was throwing at me.

The place where the mecha had come ashore was a shipyard meant to receive cargo ships, so the entire area was filled with stacked cargo containers arranged into mazelike rows. This was lucky for me, as it meant there would be a bit of a buffer between the mecha and the more residential part of the city a short ways south of it. Hopefully the people working the shipyard would have the sense to run, because my best chance for keeping civilian casualties to a minimum was to keep the thing where it was.

 _And having some backup wouldn't hurt either_ , I thought to myself. All of the more powerful local heroes (the Spirit Guard, I think they were called) were off near the border with the Justice League, so I tried to comm them. I was only half surprised when I was met with static though. The thing had a signal jammer. I'd have to trust that Ted would call the League, and I'm sure he had access to landlines. And while I couldn't call Starfire, well, I'm pretty sure she would notice the giant robot pretty quickly on her own.

Speaking of which, as I flew closer I managed to get a better look at the mecha that was currently knocking over a container stack that was in its way. The thing was about seven stories tall, and quite broad at the shoulders. The thing I had thought was a recced head looked to be no more than a boxy section of protruding metal, maybe for the cockpit if this thing was piloted. I could see several seams and connectors on its thick green armor, indicating sections that could fold out or slide into each other. The thing most likely had a whole slew of integrated weaponry.

The thing was also quite heavy, given how each step it took actually made it sink into the concrete beneath it a little. Not as much as it should have, considering its size, but still. _Really need to find out how it's getting around the square-cube law_ , I thought to myself as I picked up speed.

The mecha noticed me when I got within 500 meters of it, torso turning slightly in my direction. A second later I saw massive rotary cannons fold out from the thing's shoulders and hips, and a second after that I was dodging a hail of bullets. _Point defenses. Smart_ , I thought as I considered my options. My flight form had thinner armor than usual, and I didn't like the size of those bullets. Just one of them could knock me out of the air if it hit me in the right place and tore up my internals. I was going to need some extra protection if I wanted to get close.

I put my arms out to the sides and formed a Psion shield emitter on both the top and bottom of the limbs, along with another pair on my torso. When they all turned on they formed a triangular wedge in front of me, vaguely in the same shape as stealth fighter. It took a few seconds for me to adjust to the wind resistance of my makeshift forward shield, but after that I flew right back in at the mecha. I couldn't evade as well as I could a second ago and a few bullets hit my shield, but I weathered it without issue. The mecha's arm came up to swat me, but it wasn't even close to fast enough, and I shot around it before landing on the upper chest near its 'head'.

My shields deactivated the moment before impact, and I quickly looked around for a point of entry. I didn't find one though, as the whole section I was on turned out to be one solid plate. And considering how much trouble tank armor could give me, I didn't want to bother digging straight through this thing. I'd have to crawl to the back and look for weaknesses. Just as well, I wanted to be out of reach of the arms-

My sensors picked up the increase in electrical charge the second before the entire surface of the mecha lit up with electricity. My Faraday mesh protected me from the worst of it, but the current was so strong that it still caused me to flinch. It nearly cost me, as it meant that I only narrowly avoided the giant hand that came to crush me against its chest. I dropped a short ways before taking to the air, my shields reigniting as the point defenses once again opened fire.

I frowned. An electric defense system. No way I could use assimilation spikes to burrow my way in with that active, not unless I wanted to risk burning through all of my mass in the process. This one's going to be tricky.

Before the mecha could continue to advance on me, a salvo of green and blue energy bolts rained down across it's shoulders, and a moment later Starfire and Rommie flew by. The pair split apart to avoid the barrage of returning fire, and Starfire swung around to move net to me. "Machina! What are we dealing with?"

"Other than a giant mecha? Not sure." I drifted in front of her to block the stream of bullets headed her way. I had to push forward in the air to keep myself from being knocked back. "Aside from the point defenses, the thing has an electric defense grid, so I can't just tear it apart from the inside."

"Then we shall have to fell it as hunters do," Starfire replied. "Stay on the move and fire at any unarmored section you can find. Destroy its weaponry if you must. We shall take it down one injury at a time."

"Got it." And with that the two of us split, flying rapidly in different directions. [Rommie, we're going to be using hit and run tactics!] I communicated. [Aim for any weaknesses you can find!]

[Acknowledged!] She replied. Huh, so I can still talk to her even when there's a jamming signal. Good to know.

From there, the three of us circled around the mecha, flying quickly to avoid to avoid its attacks. The machine stopped its march on the city and started turning to deal with us, though it seemed at a loss over which one of us to target. Its guns tracked us automatically, but the mecha swung its arms wildly at us in an attempt to swat us out of the air. It couldn't get a good bead on us, but the motion combined with the rotary cannons made it difficult to get a good shot at any less armored portions of it.

After a few passes I hung back, pausing to wait for an opportunity to present itself. I got my chance when both Starfire and Rommie, after making strafing runs from either side, shot up into the air. The mecha reached up after them with both of its arms. There! With its attention off me, I shot forward and down, nearly scrapping across the ground as I passed between its legs. Spinning around in the air, I was given a clear view at the massive unarmored actuators that were the back of its knees.

For something this big and tough, I had only one real option. My right armed shifted into a plasma cannon, and I wobbled in the air a little as I compensated for my lost thruster. Light bloomed from the wide barrel at the end of my arm, and after a few seconds of charging a beam of red plasma lanced out and struck the back of the knee.

When the plasma dispersed, it showed… a heated up knee joint that was still intact. _Wait, really?! That shot should be able to piece right through steel!_ I thought. I lined up another shot, but before I could release it some of the plating below and above the joint shifted up to cover it. The mecha would have trouble bending its leg like that, but for the moment it was protected from attack.

I ran out of time to try anything else, because at that moment the mecha's torso twisted back and its arm reached down towards me. For a moment I thought I was safe, as the arm was not long enough to reach me at my current height, and with its knee locked it couldn't exactly bend down. That feeling of safety quickly disappeared though when I saw an aperture on the palm of its clawed hand open a moment later.

I barely got out of the way before a red-orange beam of energy lanced through the concrete I had been over. I started to rise into the air before I stopped and dipped back down again, trying to hug the ground as much as I could. "Starfire, Rommie, keep low!" I yelled. "If it fires high with those beams it could hit a civilian target in the distance!"

I flew into the maze of cargo contains, and I got a brief glimpse of my two teammates following suit. The mecha swung its arm around and fired again, the energy beam lancing through several cargo containers, and causing one of them to explode in a shower of shrapnel. I swung around and fired a few plasma shots at its head hoping to hit some sensory equipment, but was forced to duck out of sight to avoid another blast burning towards me.

 _This could be better_ , I thought to myself as I climbed up a container stack to peer at the giant machine. If this thing kept pulling out new tricks we were going to have a hell of a time beating it. At the moment we were at a bit of a stalemate, and I was worried that this would turn into a battle of attrition. I was sure that we could beat it if it came down to that (or at least hold out until the League got here), but the potential civilian causalities from doing so… we need to gain the upper hand fast.

Apparently Starfire agreed, because before I could come up with something, a surge of motion in the corner of my vision got my attention. I looked in time to see a cargo container hurtling through the air in an arc at the giant mecha. It saw it coming though and batted it to the side before it could impact.

What the mecha didn't see was Rommie flying directly behind the container. As she shot past the machine's arm the trike flipped so that her nose was pointed straight down and came to a dead stop right above the rotary cannon port on its right shoulder. She then opened fire, blue bolts raining down onto the weapon emplacement. She followed the mecha's motions as it tried to move out of the way, even as I saw her gun barrels start to heat up from the constant fire.

She finally had to move when a set of panels opened up on the mecha's left arm, and several missiles shot out towards her. Rommie broke position and tried to avoid them, but three of them impacted her side. Even through the explosions I could hear her mechanical wail as she plummeted, smashing into a container wall before hitting the ground.

"Rommie!" I yelled. As I jumped from my perch and landed next to her in the middle of a container lane.

Parts of her metal frame were blown off and bent, and one of her wheels was in ruin. Still, she beeped at me as I put a hand on her. [I-I have not ceased functions!] As she said this, Rommie hitched and awkwardly folded back up into her sphere form. [Though I shall need time to-to reformat!]

I looked back at the mecha, walking towards us at a steady pace. It then stopped and turned as the blazing comet that was Starfire shot up from near its feet. Before it could react she flew straight at the damaged turret, which was currently sparking and glowing red. With a scream Starfire pulled her arm back and tore straight through the weapon emplacement. She flipped around in the air and yelled "Machina, do it!"

I burst forward as Rommie rolled back, half flying half running down the container lane at the mecha. The thing turned its attention back at me and fired its particle beam, and I jumped up and ran along the side of the container wall to avoid it. It fired again, but I jumped over the beam and landed on its arm, running along the limb towards my target. I made a final jump just before the arm electrified, reinforcing my Faraday mesh and dropping from the air to land on the damaged portion of its shoulder.

Electricity surged across the plates a few seconds later, but the pain and damage it was doing were manageable. There was still enough electricity that I couldn't use my assimilation spikes, so I went for a more esoteric approach.

Blue lines traced along my limbs as I ran _Technological Pattern Analysis,_ looking to find out just how this thing worked. A rough blueprint of the mecha started to etch itself in my mind, the structure filling out in greater and greater detail. The first thing I noticed were the number of redundant systems and structural reinforcement. Most of the thing's structure was just meant to keep it functioning. The next thing was that it was definitely a proper mecha, as in the center of machine's sternum there was a spherical cockpit.

Beyond that it had a few things like some impressively designed actuators and water propulsion systems, but I focused on how it was being powered… and was surprised to find that the mecha had a functioning fusion reactor in its chest. And had a cannon tied directly to it just underneath the breastplate. How the hell did the North Rhelasians get this kind of tech?

That was a question for later though, as now I needed to shut the thing down. I focused the Algorithm to the task… and the mecha somehow resisted what I was trying to do, just a little. For a moment I was worried that the mecha was being piloted by another technopath, but that didn't feel right. It wasn't that the mecha was fighting against me, just hard to affect. At a guess, the pilot was a metahuman that had the ability to strengthen things. It explained why we were having such a hard time damaging it in the first place.

Still, it didn't stop me, and one by one I started shutting systems down. I focused on the ones physically closest to me, the ones I could most easily affect. Primary actuators for right shoulder and elbow, nearby point defense grid, primary reactor emergency shunts-

That was as far as I got before Starfire could hold the other arm back no longer. Or at least I assumed that's what happened, as I suddenly felt the crushing force of the mecha's other hand slapping into me. Everything went painful and fuzzy for a moment before I got my senses back, and I realized I was falling. I managed to slow my fall enough that I landed on my feet, and launched myself away before the mecha's foot came crashing down on top of me.

Flying back up, I spotted Starfire floating behind it, and I flew next to her. "I didn't shut it down, but I made some progress." I said as watched the mecha turn to us, its right arm swinging limply at its side. "We just have to do that a few more-"

Motion from the mecha's chest shut me up, and my eyes widened at the plating around the chest opened up. From my scan a moment ago I knew what this was, and sure enough the barrel of the primary Fusion Cannon folded out. For a second I wondered why the pilot thought that he could hit us with what amounted to an artillery weapon… but then I realized how we were positioned. The city was at our backs some distance away, and the blast would hit if we moved. Hell, it'd probably go through us.

I rapidly considered my options. There was no way to block it, and I didn't think I could shut it down fast enough if I tried using technomancy again. That meant I had to destroy it, and considering the size and durability of the thing, I couldn't do it by half measures.

"Starfire, maneuver Megatron!" I shot up into the air and my entire body started to change. My arms and legs fused into my core as it expanded, pulling all of my extra mass out. Only my eyes remained as the rest of my body finished forming into a large boxy shape, with a massive barrel sticking out one end and lined with numerous vents and capacitors.

I had become an Artillery Plasma Cannon.

As my ability to float cut out, I dropped right into the expecting arms of Starfire. She leaned back in the air as I fell against her, the woman bracing me against her shoulder and planting her foot on one of my struts. Gripping the handles I made for her, Starfire's hands surged with starbolt energy which fed into my main chamber and mixed in with my own plasma. She aimed me straight down the barrel of the massive canon in front of us, and all of my systems powered up for the strongest blast I could manage. For several long, tense seconds both the mecha and I charged our weapons. Thankfully, I was just a little bit faster, and I launched my attack just as I saw a small light bloom in the back of the barrel.

The blinding white-blue beam lanced forth from my barrel and shot straight into the mecha's cannon. It was a testament to the mecha's failsafe systems that the whole thing didn't explode in the first instant, instead the entire machine shaking as high energy particles were vented from shunts on the back and shoulders. However, it looked like my tampering earlier had paid off, as a moment later something failed and an explosion tore through the right side of its torso. The detonation had so much force that it tore off the right arm at the shoulder, sending the limb flying before it landed on a stack of cargo containers (crushing the top one in the process).

However, the mecha didn't fall. The machine staggered back, swaying as it tried to maintain its balance. Fire and electricity flowed from the damaged side, and the whole machine groaned in protest, but it steadied itself with its remaining arm against a container stack and roared at us. It was crippled, but still dangerous.

And I wasn't having any of that. I started shifting in Starfire's grip, and she let go of me. I floated awkwardly for a few moments before I had limbs and a head again, flying away from the mecha. "Starfire, keep it busy for a few seconds!"

"What are you doing?"

"Finishing this!" I shouted back as I landed right next to the severed mecha's arm. I then plunged my own arm into the severed base and focused. Information of the various systems in the arm flooded my awareness, and I poured power and my will back into it. Blue lines traced themselves from my right side and on to (and into) the limb, the arm twitching. The hand slowly twisted and planted itself down on the container, lifting the limb up slightly.

At the same time my own body shifted, my form bulking up to give me more leverage. I dedicated as much of my frame towards physical strength as I dared, and I growled in strain as I heaved the massive limb upward, pointing it straight up. Meanwhile the air jets on my body shifted into burst mode, and I started drawing in and compressing air. I tried to make it go as fast as I could, but with so much of my structure dedicated to holding up the arm it still took several seconds, and the strain felt like I was coming apart at the seams.

Starfire moved forward and blasted the mecha with Starbolts to get its attention, but whoever was piloting the thing had decided I was the real threat. In spite of the damage she was inflicting on its already destroyed side, the machine only waved its arm at her a little before refocusing on me. With halting and awkward steps the mecha lumbered forward, anticipating my plan and pulling its arm back.

Just before I lost structural integrity, my thrusters fired and I launched myself into the air, throwing myself in a parabolic arc at my target. The arm I was attached to cocked back, the fingers extending and wrist spinning up like a drill. The mecha stepped in towards me, emitting a mechanical roar as it swung its left arm in a haymaker to knock me out of the sky.

I roared in kind as the distance closed. The arm I wielded caught the inside of the haymaker, metal sparking as the two limbs scraped across each other before the spinning fist of mine slammed into the mecha's head.

The sound of metal on metal was deafening, and the fist tore all the way up to the wrist into the giant mecha. A cascade of explosions erupted from both my target and my impromptu weapon, and the machine finally lost its balance and toppled backwards to the ground. The impact shook the earth, and the mecha gave one last pitiable twitch before it went still.

I landed with a heavy crash, detaching myself from the now wrecked arm. I didn't need to catch my breath, but I still took a moment to recollect myself while I watched for any signs that the machine was still functional. As I waited, Starfire landed next to me, regarding the felled mecha before looking at me with a grin. "Sur'mal!"

 _Glorious._

Rommie then rolled up on my other side and beeped [As expected! This spiritless machine could not hope to match your ability!]

I gave a small smile. "Thanks, but don't undersell your teamwork. We-"

[█]

My head snapped around to look at the Kord Tech building in the distance. I stared for a few seconds, but there was nothing. "Did… anyone else feel that?" I asked.

"Feel what?" Starfire asked.

[I do not know what you mean.] Rommie was equally confused.

I frowned and looked back at the mecha. "Something I'm sure I'm going to have to deal with in a bit. But first…" I said and walked towards the damaged portion of the machine, several mechadendrites forming from my back. As I started digging into the metal my extra limbs latched onto the surface of the machine and analyzed its status. Most of its systems were down, but the fusion reactor was still going. And sure enough, it seemed like whoever was in the cockpit was trying to make it reach critical and explode. They wouldn't be that successful, considering its damage and function, but there was no reason to encourage them. A few seconds later, I had shut down the remaining mecha's systems.

A minute or so of digging through and prying apart the twisted metal finally let me reach the cockpit of the mecha, and I found the sphere with a number of cables attached to it. I carefully pried open the plating to reveal the person strapped inside.

He was much younger than I expected, a Rhelasian boy of only 14 or 15 by my estimation. He was dressed in something that resembled a black flight suit, but his youthful face glared back at me uncovered. The boy then drew a pistol from his side holster and opened fire on me. I simply stood there and let him empty the clip at me until the gun ran dry. "Got it out of your system?" I asked flatly.

To his credit the boy simply scoffed and tossed the gun aside, unstrapping himself from his seat. "I have been preparing my whole life for this. I am Samjoko, He who Rests in the Sun. I will not be stopped here!" The boy then drew a knife and leapt at me.

He who Rests in the Sun was promptly stopped right there as several of my mechadendrite limbs reached in and grabbed him before he could get close. If I guessed his powers right, that knife was a lot stronger than it looked, and I didn't want to deal with that. I pulled him out of the cockpit and held him up, my frown still present. "None of that," I said as I pried the knife out of his hand. "I've been dealing with you Foxhound rejects all day, and I've run out of my friendly banter quotient for the foreseeable future. So quit throwing a fit and come quietly."

If anything the boy's glare intensified. "You. It was you wasn't it? The one who defeated the other War Dogs."

I shrugged. "Three out of four. She picked up the spare." I said, tilting my head at Starfire.

Samjoko held onto his anger for several moments before he looked to the side, a sneer on his face. "They knew, didn't they? They knew that you would crush any we sent against you. They never intended for us to succeed. We were merely fodder."

That got my attention. "Who are you talking about?"

He looked at me for a long moment, no doubt considering how much he respected this third party. The answer was likely not very much, as he then responded "The League of Shadows. After the treaty was signed, they approached me and offered aid to my cause, information and agents so that I could set my country back on the right course. They only asked for one thing in return."

"Serling." I said, the pieces falling into place.

"The scientist." Samjoko confirm. "After the others failed, I was told that if I didn't stage an assault on Jen-, they would remove their support." He snorted. "Clearly they just wanted me to keep you busy. They probably have her already."

Electricity surged through my limb and the boy was knocked unconscious. I then tossed him at Starfire. "Make sure he gets locked up and meet me at Kord Tech as soon as you can!" With that I shot into the air and flew towards the Kord Tech building as fast as I could.

* * *

It was under a minute until I reached the building, but the fact that my calls had been met with silence made the trip feel a lot longer. I reentered Ted's office via the window to find him missing, and a quick glance at the computer on his desk showed nothing but errors. I ran out of the room and into the hallway, and found the whole area oddly hazy. I didn't hear anything like fire though, so I kept running until I found someone.

Said someone was a scientist by the look of their lab coat, and they were sprawled out on the ground. I ran up to him fearing the worse, but to my surprise he was merely unconscious. Very deeply unconscious, considering how slow his pulse was. _Knockout gas_ , I realized as I looked at the haze around me. _Is the whole building flooded? Was this an impromptu strike, or an inside job?_ No time to wonder, I had to find Serling and Ted.

I ran through the hallways, seeing several more employees scattered on the ground before I found Ted, crumpled awkwardly against the wall next to the stairwell door. I spotted a rebreather on the ground next to him, and checking him over showed a number of bruises and cuts. _He didn't get far from his office. Whoever did this targeted him first before going after Serling._ His life wasn't in danger though, and if his assailant left him alive it was unlikely he'd come back to finish Ted off. I settled the man into a more comfortable position before heading into the stairwell and jumping down several floors to where Serling had locked herself in a lab.

The haze was much thinner down here, though there were still unconscious people everywhere. I got to the lab where Serling had been and… found it empty. I cursed and was about to move on when something caught my eye, and I looked at the strange set up of equipment in the middle of the room. It looked like all the medical equipment had been dragged into a circle around an examination chair, a mess of wires and tubing resting in the empty seat save for a discarded lab coat. Serling's laptop was connected to every machine (currently displaying gibberish code), and I saw that much of the tubing was connected to a large, empty glass container. That was sitting in a special case inside Serling's luggage.

"…Serling, what have you-" I started to mutter before I heard shouting. I turned to look at an open door on the other side of the lab and I ran through it. I paused in the hallway before I faintly heard "Don't think you can hide from me!", and I sprinted in the direction of the voice.

I turned the next corner just in time to see Serling being dragged out of a room by an unfortunately familiar person, the man quickly putting her in a hold at gunpoint and turning to face me. I had never met him before, but the man had a distinctive attire that made it hard for me to mistake him for anyone else. I froze where I was and said "I should have known that the Shadows would hire you at some point… "

Deathstroke the Terminator regarded me evenly with his single visible eye, holding Serling in front of himself like a shield. "What can I say, my talents are very sought after." He pressed the gun he held a bit harder into Serling's neck, a simple handgun. That was far from the only weapon he had on his person though, as I spotted a pair of machine pistols, some knives, some grenades, and his signature twin blades across his back. "So, how about you let me go with the lady here? If you want her to stay in one piece."

Serling herself looked… unwell, for some reason. Rather than being panicked, the woman had a far away, spaced out expression. Her skin had a greyish pallor to it, which I got a good view of since her labcoat and shirt had been removed, leaving her in a simple tanktop. Did he drug her, beyond the knockout gas? Probably, he would want to keep her pliable to get her out of here quickly.

Both Deathstroke and I remained motionless for several long moments, both of us taking stock of the situation. The assassin no doubt knew that instant he didn't have his human shield I could take him out, and I didn't trust myself to move fast enough to neutralize him before he shot Serling. I didn't doubt for a second that he would kill her either. If I could just wait until Starfire arrived…

Surprisingly it was Serling who spoke next. "Ugh," she grumbled, blinking a few times and shaking her head. "Can't I just get five minutes?" I grunted in sympathy.

Deathstroke was not amused. "Shut it little girl, the big boys are talking. Go back to being the helpless maiden until we need you."

Serling slowly reached up and gripped the arm that held the gun to her. Deathstroke responded by jamming the gun even harder into her neck, but she didn't seem to care as she grit out "Helpless…" her grip on the assassin's arm increased, and to both Deathstroke's and my surprise, started pulling the arm away. "Not… anymore."

She then grabbed ahold of his collar with her other hand and threw him clear through the wall next to them.

What.

I was so taken off guard by this that I almost missed Serling climbing into the hole she made after the assassin. "Serling, no!" I gave a start and ran after her, and made it through the hole myself just in time to see Deathstroke fire several rounds at her.

The woman twisted back a little from the force of the gunshots, and I caught sight of something silvery creeping up her right side before she turned back and rushed the assassin. For a moment I thought I imagined it, but as she moved I saw the silver substance expanding across her body. By the time she reached him it covered most of her right side and arm.

Even after getting thrown through a wall though, Deathstroke still had his wits about him. The man rolled away just before Serling put her fist through the floor where he once was. He rolled to his feet and pulled his machine pistols, but I was already forming a magnetic attractor. The guns were ripped out of Deathstroke's hands before he could fire. He briefly glanced at me before he jumped behind one of the room's many workbench islands.

And not a moment too soon for him. Serling reached out and grabbed the faucet on a nearby sink, the silver material on her arm expanding into several tendrils and consuming the metal. As she swung her arm around the substance twisted and fused into a sort of multi-barreled arm cannon. It turned out to be an improvised flechette launcher, as a moment later a hail of shrapnel tore into the island that Deathstroke was hiding behind.

It wasn't enough to destroy the assassin's cover though, and the moment she stopped firing he popped back up and threw a trio of knives at her. Knifes made out of a non-ferrous metal, as I learned when I tried to move them off course. Serling's reflexes were quick though, and silver tendrils flowed off her other arm to intercept them. Two the knives were deflected, but the third struck her in the face. I felt a moment of panic as her head rocked back… only to see the sliver substance had spread to her mouth, and that the knife was clenched between her teeth.

Deathstroke stared. "…You've got to be kidding me. How are you doing this?!"

I knew what was coming. I knew it deep down in my soul just as much as I knew how there was no stopping it.

Serling spat out the knife, the silver material continuing to flow over her. As it moved up to her face she flashed the assassin a silvery grin. "Nanomachines, old man!"

I felt like this was my fault somehow.

It was only a few seconds before the silver substance covered her completely and her transformation was complete. Her body was so reflective that at first glance she reminded me of the Silver Surfer, though there were a few differences. She had a few awfully familiar ridges around her upper chest and neck, though they were artfully arranged and covered by other structures. Her forearms and legs below the knees were similar, though they also had short blades protruding from them. She had long slivery cables in place of her hair, and on top of her head there was something that resembled a helm with the visor pushed up.

She stepped forwards, her arm reforming into the flechette cannon. "Still think you can take me?"

Deathstroke flicked his gaze between her and myself, before shifting his weight back "You know what? You just became more trouble than you're worth." His hand flicked out at his side, and several thermal smoke pellets exploded against the ground. Even as I started moving, several disc shaped objects were thrown from the cloud in every direction, which quickly exploded. Through the smoke and chaos I could see several holes blown in the walls and floor.

Serling fired into the cloud a few times, but when it cleared the man was already gone. She started to go after him, but stumbled and slowed. "Ah, bloody startup pains."

I moved to the hole right below where he had been and looked down, but I found no trace of Deathstroke, either visually or with my sensors. Glancing at the other holes I waffled between going after him versus staying with Serling, and in the end I chose the latter. The assassin could have gone any number of ways, and the only reason I had been able to keep up with Cheshire before was that I always had a bead on her. Besides, I really felt like I needed to find out what was up with Serling.

I turned and walked back towards the silver-clad woman, placing a hand on her shoulder as she straightened herself. "Serling, what… I mean… just what?"

She looked at me, and a slightly manic grin appeared on her face. "Like it? I've been doing a lot of research on your nanomachines after all. What they let you do, what you're capable of. So I decided… that I wanted some of my own."

As she said this, I used _Technological Pattern Analysis_ to get a better look at what I was dealing with. Sure enough, the substance that coated her was a nanite mass, and similarities to my own in function were apparent. Still, the construction of the nanites themselves were different, and it looked like they relied more heavily on physical connection and independent operation to remain cohesive.

Even as all the specs entered my mind, I kept searching for something else. That thing I had sensed earlier. I looked deeper and deeper until…I thought I felt something familiar. Not actually there but an echo of it.

Was I just imagining it, or had Serling touched the Algorithm for a brief moment?

Serling seemed to feel what I was doing, and pulled back out of my reach. She looked at me in confusion for a moment, and I wondered if I had accidently overstepped my bounds. However, a second later the smile came back, though it was a little… different. "Curious?" She asked in a low tone before she turned away from me, holding up an arm as she walked away. "I'll admit, there was a lot of inspiration drawn from your own nanomachines, but I made mine to integrate with my body rather than replace it." The silvery mass pulled away from her arm for a moment, reveling normal skin beneath before flowing back over. "I'm not ready to make that leap."

"I see," I said. The slow, deliberate walk emphasized how her silvery covering left little to the imagination when it came to her figure. And I couldn't help but notice that the woman was putting a deliberate swing to her hips which naturally drew the eyes to her rear. Ignoring that for the moment I continued "Still, this is… very surprising. I had no idea you knew enough about biology to even attempt this."

Serling stopped, then turned back to me. "I did a lot of research first. And I am brilliant. I took care to make my nanomachines as versatile as possible. I can even replicate your technological integration." A slight frown crossed her face. "Though I haven't had time to integrate much yet. I will have to fix that."

"So that is what you were working on," I said as I took a step towards her. "Serling… why is this the first I'm hearing about this? Why didn't you tell me what you were doing? Did you get help-"

"No, of course not!" She exclaimed as she stepped up to me. "I did this! I took control of my life! I had to do it on my own!" She stood close and looked up at me, her body tense and her expression a mix of determination and excitement. "No one's going to use me ever again. You can understand that, don't you?"

I looked at her for a long moment before I sighed. "Yeah, I do."

"Good. Then you and I can get back to work and see just how far we can take this." She said, breathing deep as she bit her lip a little. "We get right back into it as soon as we get back to the States."

"Well, you probably need to talk to the U.N. first, to get your clearance updated." She gave me an odd look, and I continued. "You're technically a metahuman now. At least by the legal definition, as the cybernetically enhanced fall under that category in most cases. "

Serling frowned and looked off to the side. "They need better definitions then," She remarked, before a thought occurred to her and she looked back at me. "You know, I think I prefer the term you use. Post-human… has a nice ring to it."

"Glad you think so," I remarked. I looked around the ruined room before looking back at her. "So, what now?"

Serling breathed in. "Well, I suppose I should help clean up bit. After that, and after I get back to a proper lab, there's a lot of performance tests I need to run-"

"No I meant more long term." I interrupted. "If those things are even half as capable as I think they are, you're now one of the most powerful cyborgs on the planet. What are you going to do?"

Serling looked at me blankly, her mouth opening for a moment before it closed. It was pretty clear that she hadn't thought that far ahead. "I…" she started to say before she stopped and started again. "That is something that I can explore. I now have a whole new set of options that are available to me."

"Like superheroing? That is the traditional career path after 'events' like this." I suggested as I gestured to her.

"That wasn't quite what I had in mind," she started to say before she cupped her chin in thought. "Then again, preemptively taking out the people who keep trying to abduct me would save time in the long run… I may need to think on this."

I snorted. "Sure, it will give you plenty of time to think of a name too." I turned away from her, planning to head back up and take stock of all the employees. And I wanted to wake Ted up, so he could help me deal with this new level of crazy.

I was a little surprised when I heard from behind me "No, I think I already know what it is."

I turned back and looked at her questioningly. "Really? What?" Serling smiled and stood up straight.

"Call me… the Engineer."

=====A=====

A/N: Well, let's hope that injecting yourself with incredibly powerful nanomachines is a good substitute for actually dealing with your emotional issues.

(It's not)


	49. Interlude 4

=====A=====

Dr. T. O. Morrow sat alone in his lab, tinkering with a last few odds and end as he prepared for his next operation. His assistant Brom had gone home for the evening, but that didn't mean he was alone, exactly. The two of his 'family' resting in the wall docks behind him weren't in a talkative mood at the moment, but the scientist found them being there comforting all the same. And besides, there was much to look forward to. It was almost time for the family reunion. But first, he had to actually find his wayward son.

He still suspected that Red Tornado was somewhere near the old Justice League mountain base, though he couldn't be sure. Morrow had hoped to flush him out with Mister Twister, but instead those damnable kid heroes had interfered. He didn't know if they also lived in the area or it was just a coincidence, but that was no reason to take chances. His next attempt would have to take them into account.

Especially _that_ one. The one that managed to trounce the android made by his old apprentice. If Morrow's suspicions were correct, this Machina was quite dangerous to his creations. Hence what he was working on at that moment. Without any distractions, he should have a proper counter by-

[When you understand, come find us.]

Morrow's hand twitched and he dropped the soldering iron. The man growled to himself as he gripped his head. _Damn it, it's still happening!_ He should have known better than to open that mysterious folder that had appeared on his console one day. He had no idea how it got there, and could find no trace of where it had come from. When he found that all it contained was a text file with mathematical nonsense, he had dismissed it as beneath his notice.

And yet, ever since that day at random intervals those equations and algorithms would pop back up in his head, demanding his attention. And every time the name of the folder would come to the front of his mind. For the life of him he couldn't figure out why he keep thinking about it. It was like that text file had infected him somehow.

The man placed one of his hands down on the table as he tried to concentrate. _Alright, I have to get to the bottom of this, it's clearly not going away. Maybe I need to take another look at those algorithms… they looked wrong at a first glance, but maybe- **No, it is a waste of time. I need to get back to my objective.**_

Morrow shook his head to clear himself of distracting thoughts… and then notices a small plum of rising smoke coming from the table in front of him. He looked down to find that he had placed his hand right down on top of the dropped soldering iron.

Morrow brought his hand up and winced, bracing for the pain now that he was paying attention. But before the pain could hit him, he noticed something odd about the burn. Past the burned skin he saw something… grey and metallic. _**It's gruesome, I should look away-**_

[█]

Morrow forced himself to stare at his hand, and a second later he started to pick at the skin. He peeled it back more and more before a large swath of it was pulled off his hand, and he found himself staring at the robotic hand that had been hidden underneath. _I… have a robotic limb?_ He thought to himself in confusion. _But **of course I do. My whole body has been replaced. Its age was slowing me down.**_

Morrow shook his head again. Right, how could he forget? The scientist figured that he had just been like this so long he actually forgot his age. It had been… wait when did he do it? And for that matter, how? He could handle the robotics, but he had never been good at biology or medical things. He knew how to digitize memories, but wouldn't that mean he was… _**You got assistance from your old apprentice-**_

[█]

Morrow started to hyperventilate as he tried to piece his thoughts together, his mind being pulled in several directions. He could feel his train of thought being pulled away from him, and the more it happened the more he could recognize it. He could feel the algorithms playing out in the back of his head, and the more they did the more he could recognize the thoughts that weren't his own. The ones that were pressing down him. In a fit of panic, he reached out and-

[███]

He stood still for a long moment, holding his breath as his mind processed this. He then released his breath, but didn't bother breathing back in again. After all, he didn't need to. _I'm… an android,_ He thought to himself. It seemed so obvious in hindsight, but it was also obvious that he had been programmed mentally shy away from realizing it. He could guess at his - well, his creator's – reasoning as well. The original Morrow needed a copy of himself if he wanted to continue his work, but didn't like the idea of being a copy. Hence, the copy was to always think itself the original to prevent any sort of existential crisis.

And yet, as the android stood there and pondered this, he felt no distress at all. He was not the original T. O. Morrow, but his own person. And this realization came with such alarming speed that he had completely skipped the navel gazing process. _I guess the old man underestimated himself_ , the android thought wirily. Though if he was being honest, those strange algorithms that were dancing through his processors probably had a part to play in his sudden self-awareness. _Now that my subroutines are not fighting each other, I should really look into those._

The android looked between the nearest console and his workbench, trying to figure out what to prioritize first. That strange file could be holding all sorts of secrets, including the identity of whoever put it onto his computer. But it wasn't like humanity was going to destroy itself (well, within a reasonable timeframe, anyway).

A sudden thought entered the android's mind, one which caused him to freeze.

 _Do I actually want to destroy humanity, or was just programmed to want to?_

It was such a strange thing to think, and part of him wanted to dismiss the thought immediately. And yet, that is just what his programming had been telling him to do, so the android took a step back and started to think. Just what was the reason he wanted to do that? He- no, Dr. Morrow had come up with the plan as a sort of ultimate triumph over the Justice Society and all heroes. Proof that his scientific prowess was stronger than their mission to defend society.

As for the android… he found that he didn't really care about that. Granted, he had only been truly self-aware for a couple of minutes, but acting out the revenge of another man held no appeal to him. Still, the idea of wiping out humanity was one worth considering. The android found that he didn't particularly care about them either. Though the plan itself could use some modification. Setting off a supervolcano would probably wipe out most of the human race, but there were far too many people with superpowers and advanced technology that could hold on and rebuild. And having the atmosphere choked with ash wasn't ideal for machines, either.

He shook his head. Plans and specifics could be dealt with later, he had to confront the main issue: what did he _want_ to do?

For a brief and terrifying moment the android wasn't sure, but then his eyes fell on the repair docks, the pair of red robots staring at him impassively. Right, his 'family'. Even if he himself didn't make them, the replica of Morrow still felt a sense of pride and affection for the robots. But there was still one missing.

With that, the android nodded to himself and got back to work, his focus finally restored. For now, his short term plans hadn't changed. Because if he wanted a better idea of what to do with himself, well, he'd just have to ask the other creation of his dear father.

* * *

Managing an organization of operatives had become something like second nature to Ra's al Ghul. After all, he had been doing so for centuries, and for all the changes that advancing technology had brought, human nature remained the same. People strove to gain dominance over one another, greed and pride could be exploited, and fear was an ample motivator when other approaches failed.

As such, while lesser men might have faltered when it came to managing the fallout of the failed Rhelasian coup, Ra's was in his element moving his agents around and minimizing the damage to useful assets. He was doing so from one of his offices in the country, as he did prefer to be on location to handle a task this large. Still, the wonders of modern communication technology made certain conversations easier, such as the one he was currently having with their more… recent addition. "Has your latest assignment been giving you any trouble?" Ra's said to the person on the screen in front of him.

"The last remnants of coup forces are in the process of surrendering." Deathstroke said. "A few were more resistant, but I managed to 'convince' them. Seems like a bit of a waste, though."

Ra's shook his head. "The War Dogs were too radicalized to be useful, too violent to tolerate proper peace. We needed South East Asia to be stable, and so their destruction was necessary. The only question was how much use we could get out of them." Not as much as Ra's would have liked, but the capture of the nanotech expert hadn't been the only goal of the operation. In the chaos, assets had been seized and pawns had been moved into position in both governments. The results were acceptable, all things considered. "And Cheshire?"

"They moved her to a military prison shortly after her capture," The mercenary said. "Given the timeframe, I wasn't able to do much about that. She will be transferred soon however. If you will allow me use of some of your contacts within the government…"

Ra's nodded. "Consider it done. Is there any other business?"

Deathstroke paused for a moment before he asked "Are you planning on going after the doctor again?"

The other man shook his head. "No, at least not to capture. We no longer have the means to control her."

Deathstroke grunted. "Well, if you change your mind, or have anything planned for that other nanomachine bastard, let me know. I'll need a good long time to prepare before I can handle either of those freaks."

The screen went black, and Ra's heard a sigh from the corner behind him. "I know that unexpected developments are common in this line of work, but I am starting to find the ones caused by Machina to be tiresome." Ra's turned to see Luthor pulling himself out of his chair and walking towards him. The magnate had been helping him deal with the more legitimate side of negotiations and managing authorities as the region settled back down.

"To be fair, he behaved exactly as expected," The other man replied. "It was the doctor's transformation we did not anticipate."

"And do you honestly think that he had nothing to do with that?" Ra's silence was all Luthor needed. "Regardless, this option is closed to us now. If this response is any indication, Dr. Roquette will fight us tooth and nail if we attempt to interfere with her again. And she will be rather successful, if the reports on her new capabilities are to be believed."

Ra's hummed. "It is unfortunate, but surely we have other options?"

Luthor started to pace. "Yes and no. All of the prototypes for the anti-technovore devices were fielded in Bialya, which General Harjavti now possesses. I can build more, or negotiate the prototypes' return, but both will cost time or resources. As for the Calculator… well, he is making steady progress." As he said this, Luthor flicked his eyes towards the computer equipment before he shot Ra's a meaningful look.

The other man nodded, the two knowing full well not to speak their real thoughts near the equipment. Calculator's inclusion into their ranks was sudden, as well as the Brain's backing of him. The two suspected that the Calculator had managed to manipulate the other Light member, but they didn't have any proof. It didn't prevent them from making counter plans though.

Luthor then waved his hand. "Have you found anything on Jacob Morgan?"

Ra's hesitated. "Perhaps." He walked over to the console and started typing. "As investigations into his past proved fruitless, my agents focused on his recent actions to learn what we could. And they recently found this."

The profile of an older man appeared on the screen, grey hair and male patterned baldness along with a short cropped beard. "This is George Morgan," Ra's said. "We have reports that while investigating the Sunderland abductions in Troy, Machina reacted noticeably different when he saw Mr. Morgan was in danger. He panicked for a moment, and when confronted by the man Machina abruptly left mid-incident."

"A relative, then?" Luthor said as he peered at the image of a man. "Perhaps his father?"

"Mr. Morgan is currently the father of two sons, but what is interesting is that he used to be the father of three." After some more typing, and another profile was brought up, with a face that seemed very familiar. The young man's frame was more slender, and there was a slight difference in the features, but the resemblance to Machina's more human face was unmistakable. "Jacob Morgan died in 2006 on a visit to New York City. He was one of the fatalities during the Luminosity incident."

Luthor frowned, remembering Doctor Light's ill-fated (and last) attempt to take over the city. "Four years ago? Not… impossible that he became involved in some kind of 'accident' during the attack, and only surfaced now."

"I thought so as well, but the records show that his body was found, cremated, and returned to his family. Someone would have had to fake a number of documents and a body just to kidnap a perfectly average young man."

The room was silent for a long moment before Luthor spoke up. "It would seem the mystery deepens."

"Indeed," Was the dry response. "I will continue to investigate. But we may have to start entertaining more… exotic origins for the man. Though we still need to deal with him in the now."

Luthor's mouth pressed in a thin line, but after a moment a thought occurred to him. "Well, Machina has gone and made a spectacle of himself with this recent incident. Maybe we should shine the spotlight on him more."

* * *

M'gann looked over from the Zeta Tube console, hesitating in putting in the Mountain's address for a moment. At her side Conner was grimacing at his reflection in the polished steel, turning his head this way and that. M'gann giggled. "Stop obsessing over it, it will change back."

"Easy for you to say, you're a shapeshifter." The boy grumbled as he ran his fingers through his currently blonde hair. In addition to being dyed, Conner had his hair trimmed on the sides to match Tommy Terror's style. "I can dye it back, but it will be a while before my hair grows back to normal."

M'gann stepped away from the console to move close to him. She made a show of reaching up and running her fingers through her hair, musing it this way and that. "It's not that bad… though maybe you can get by with a wig the next time you need to impersonate someone." It was lucky that Connor was so physically similar to the male half of the Terror Twins, all things considered. Batman had been wanting an excuse to covertly investigate Belle Reve penitentiary for some time, so when the League captured a pair of metahuman teens during a rampage, Batman saw his chance to send her and Connor in. And his intuition was right, considering the prisoners had been planning an escape.

Connor reached up and pulled her hands away, but he held onto them as he gave her a coy look. "I think I prefer to be myself for a while. I've got a good reason to be, after all." With that, the boy leaned in and kissed her.

The Martian felt an electric thrill run through her as they kissed, the fact that the two of them had become a couple still a little unreal to her. They had worked together to thwart the escape attempt, but M'gann's cover had been blown at the end. Connor managed to play the prisoners' mistrust off each other until the prison could regain control, but she had ended up frozen by Killer Frost. Connor thought she might have been killed and, well… things got emotional.

Finally, the two broke apart, and M'gann moved back over to the console. "Come on, they're waiting for us." She said, before typing in the coordinates. The Zeta Tube flared to life and the pair walked through.

As M'gann walked into the Mountain, she was greeted by a slightly unusual sight. Jacob was walking towards them, and Kori was right behind him with her arms wrapped around his neck. Her feet floated off the ground a short distance behind him, giving the impression she was a cloak draped over the man's shoulders. Jacob was looking back and up at her with a smile on his face before he looked towards the two. "Good to see you back in one piece. How was prison?"

"…Eventful." Connor settled on after a long pause. "You heard what happened?"

Kori nodded, drifting from behind Jacob and setting down next to him. "The escape attempt. But you managed to thwart it."

M'gann nodded in kind, a sly smile crossing here face. "Yep. Things got a little… tricky at the end, but we managed."

Jacob grunted. "Honestly, I'm impressed that you two managed to put on such a convincing act. No one suspected that you weren't hardened criminals?"

Connor shrugged. "Batman gave us a crash course in disguise and acting right before the twins were captured. Took me forever to get Tommy's drawl down…"

Jacob stepped forward, casting a glance at the boy's blond hair. "Well, I guess we don't have to worry about you 'becoming the mask'. Now we just have to hope that prison life didn't change you."

"Of course not, it was just acting." M'gann said, before she frowned a little. "I mean, mostly it was just acting, I did put a bit of myself in there. And I had to adopt few mannerisms I picked up from the other ladies, because that's expected from human social groups. But, I should be able to drop those before I go back to school, right? The girls on the cheerleading squad shouldn't be able to tell-"

"Smoosh."

"Jacob!" M'gann squealed as she squirmed out of his grip on her face.

Jacob chuckled before making a placating gesture. "Ah, enough about that. You're back, it's time to relax. And I believe it's time that someone else got to show off their culture's stuff."

Kori nodded excitedly. "You're going to love the Legend of the Shattered Kingdom, I promise. It has comradery, heroism, a hero's rise, and a love that defies adversity!" She paused as a thought occurred to her. "Oh, the snacks should be done! Jacob, get started and I'll go get them!" With that, she shot off towards the kitchen.

As the rest of them walked to the common room, M'gann remembered what Jacob had been up to looked at him. "Oh right! How was your trip to Rhelasia?"

"…Eventful." Jacob settled on after a long pause. "Not sure if you heard, but there was a coup in North Rhelasia a few days in. Moreover, it was a coup backed by the League of Shadows, on the requirement that they kidnap Serling for them."

M'gann gasped. "They didn't get her, did they?"

"No. Turns out, the woman's been busy, and made herself some nanomachines to mimic my own. Now she's a cyborg that can summon a technomorphic exoskeleton at will. That put a damper on the kidnappings attempts."

"Oh!" M'gann wasn't quite sure how to react to that. "Is she alright? She didn't become a supervillain, did she?"

"What? No." Jacob shook his head. "She's still the same person, just… slightly more terrifying. And problematic for the people who find her terrifying. Like the university." He sighed. "She was already on difficult terms with them after the Fog incident, and this has made things worse. She's been arguing with them all week about whether or not she should keep her position. Ted's got her back, but there's only so much he can do."

They reached the common room and settled down on the couch, with Jacob at one end and M'gann and Connor on the other. Connor leaned forward and gave him a look. "We're not going to be getting another member on the team, are we?"

Jacob barked out a laugh. "I doubt it, Serling is not the traditional hero type. She much prefers working in a lab. If she did go out to do 'superheroing ', she'd go after the Shadows with extreme prejudice, and Batman would not be happy." He shrugged. "She… just need some time to adjust and get used to things."

Connor grunted. "Well, at least it sounds like she made protecting her a lot easier for you."

"From the Shadows maybe, but I had to deal with the coup elite forces too. Well, most of them, Kori got one. But the last one came at me in a mecha, for god's sake!" He sighed. "It… might have made things problematic for me getting back on the team."

"What do you mean?"

Jacob's gestured, and a second later a holographic screen appeared in the air, coming from one of the several emitters the man had installed in the common room. "It seems someone didn't have the sense to run away when a giant robot comes stomping through the city, and they recorded the whole thing." M'gann and Conner were then treated to a video of a mecha rampaging through a shipyard just before Jacob, Kori and Rommie showed up to fight it.

At the end, when Jacob smashed the mecha in the face with its own arm, the words 'CROSS COUNTER!' flashed on the screen.

"I've become something of a meme. I'm really popular in a bunch of Asian countries right now. Apparently there's a petition going around Japan for me to team up with Justice Rider. There is already fan art."

"And you think that's a bad thing?" Conner asked incredulously.

"In itself, no. But part of the point of this team is that no one knew who we were, so no one would think of us if we got spotted on a mission. I was already pushing it with my public appearances before, but now I'm way more likely to be recognized."

M'gann hesitated before she asked "You… really don't think you won't be allowed back, do you?"

Jacob shook his head. "Nah, Batman would have talked to me already if that was the case. It's just… sudden is all." The man looked off to the side in thought a slight frown on his face.

M'gann wasn't sure what to say to that. She really didn't want Jacob to leave the team. He'd probably still live in the Mountain, but the Martian liked having him there on missions. The team could always depend on him when things got bad, and he saved them all during the Bialya mission. She didn't want to lose that.

But… there was something that bothered her about Jacob, something she couldn't talk about with him. Because it was something she saw when she had read his mind while trying to get her memory back. She tried to stick to only things about her, but some other things bled through. Most of it was hazy and indistinct, but there was one image she had seen that kept floating up in the back of her mind. It didn't have much importance to him, but she couldn't understand why he would think of such a thing.

Of a Martian Burning-

She shook her head and made a small noise, Connor looking at her in concern. "You all right?"

She blinked and looked at him, the thought fading. "Just a stray thought, I'm fine."

Before anyone could say anything else, Kori came flying towards the group holding a truly massive bowl. As she set it down on the coffee table, M'gann saw that it was filled with a mix of pretzels, peanuts, and rice covered in chocolate, caramel and powdered sugar. Kori then dropped back and landed in Jacob's lap, causing him to grunt. He wrapped one of his arms around her middle, pulling her close and briefly burying his face in her hair.

M'gann looked at the couple next to her before looked back at Conner. Before she lost her nerve, she floated up a little and settled into his lap. The boy made a surprised sound, but after a moment he mimicked the older male by wrapping his own arm around M'gann. As Kori perked up in surprise and then in delight, M'gann put unpleasant thoughts behind her.

The mission was over. Now was the time for friends.

=====A=====

A/N: It's really not clear to me if the Morrow-bot knew he was an android or not. I settled on this because I thought it would make things more interesting.

Also, what you can't see in that last scene is Jacob and Connor fist bumping behind the back of the couch.


	50. 12-1

=====A=====

 _You know, I really need to think of a pose or something when I do this_ , I thought to myself as I mentally scrolled through digital data, my body standing stock still inside the Mountain's tech lab. _I mean, before when I pulled out smartphone it was clear what I was doing, but if someone wanders in now, things would just be awkward for a few seconds._ Kori was used to finding me like this, but given my increasing ability to just dive right into dataspace I probably needed to come up with some pose that indicated I wasn't paying attention.

And today, I was waiting for Superboy to get back after changing into the gear I gave him, so that I could run a few tests. I was still working divining whatever secrets I could from his genetic code, but I was starting to run out of leads. I've learned a lot about how his DNA was stitched together, and I found a few sequences of particular interest, but I still didn't know what I was looking at. Didn't mean I couldn't help him by other means, though.

As I waited for him, I was scrubbing through the all of the various Tarmaranian media files I had brought back from space, for a few reasons. One unfortunate reason was that I need to check for more… explicit content. Not just erotica (which I was finding a fair amount of), but in the more general media too. I suppose I should have expected that mainstream Tarmaranian media would be much more liberal in that respect compared to our fragile Earth sensibilities.

I just wish I had realized that before we had gotten to episode three of Legend of the Shattered Kingdom. Not that I minded exactly, but things got awkward with M'gann and Connor there. And they got _really_ awkward for the former considering she was sitting on the latter's lap.

And so, I was setting parental locks on all the explicit content I could find. Not because I wanted to prevent the various kids running around the mountain from seeing it exactly, I'm sure that they could find porn on their own if they wanted. I just didn't want to be the one responsible for showing it to them and have to answer to their various parental figures (mostly Batman).

Still, going through all of the media was giving me a nice snapshot of Tamaranian culture. A lot of it was what I expected (big focus on warriors and high drama), but I was finding a lot of interesting things about their history and legends. Like how frequently the latter blended into the former. Tamaranians liked to mythologize individuals who did anything interesting, important, or just plain epic. It was such that there was a sort of mythological history that ran parallel to their actual history.

Which didn't mean that these people didn't do crazy things in real life though. Alisand'r, one of Kori's favorites, was well documented for being a sort of wandering hero across several planets during the early Diaspora period. She took down despots, started rebellions, unified nations, all up until her mysterious disappearance. She was one of the more prominent figures in the modern media files, but as I scrolled a few other names with fancy titles kept popping up as well. Zorak the Slayer, Darkbane Mic'hal, Torva'l the Tempered Smith-

I stopped my scrolling, going back to that last name. _Torva'l… where have I heard that name before?_ I wondered for a moment before it came to me. During the Bialya mission, Kori has said that to me, before she had her memory back. At the time I hadn't really thought about it, figuring that it was a Tamaranian word I hadn't learned yet. But it wasn't a word, it was a _name_. So, who was Torva'l, and why did she think I was him?

I searched the database for more references and found what amounted to an encyclopedia entry on the man. It seemed that Torva'l was a legendary figure that was around during what was roughly analogous to their renaissance period. He was a blacksmith and engineer known for pioneering many of the modern forging techniques for Tamaranian metallurgy. Metalwork took a lot longer to catch on with Tamaranians compared to humans, because steel isn't quite a valuable if you can bend it with your fingers. Up until that point they mostly used bones from large predators for anything really sturdy.

Torva'l not only figured out how to work with the various heavy metals on Tamaranian, he also managed to alloy them with said bones. One of the most iconic things about the man was his suit of armor, appearing like semi-organic bone plating with a greyish color. Which he of course needed, because like most Tamaranian historical figures, he got up to some classical epic shenanigans.

One of his most famous tales, as his bio was helpfully telling me, was the story of how he rescued a princess who had been kidnapped by an invading warlord from their native city state. The two had been something of star-crossed lovers up until then, and when word of her capture had reached him, Torva'l geared up with everything he had built and went after her. Over the course of a month, using traps, tactics and sheer brute force, he tore apart the warlord's army and defeated him in combat. The tale ends with him having earned the right to become the princess's formal mate and the two are wed. There was even a helpful picture showing the two of them, Torva'l himself out of his armor and only clad in a loose cloth for his lower half… with a tool belt around his waist.

I stared at this for a long moment before I snapped back to realspace and muttered "Oh my god, it goes both ways."

Before I could muse on this more, Connor walked into the lab behind me. I put my thoughts aside and turned to look at him. "Ah, good to see it fits." I said, taking in his outfit.

Connor suit was a white body suit with the Superman emblem traced out in red on his chest. His entire body was covered, including his head in the form of a close fitted helm with a tinted faceplate. Through said face place I could see the boy grimacing. "Did it really have to be tights?" He asked.

"It is beyond my skill to give the same functionality of the solar suit to your jeans," I said flatly as I gestured for him to move to the center of a circle I had prepared. It was functionally similar to the much larger space we had in the central room, also connected to the Mountain's supercomputer. "Besides, it has to be flush against your skin if you want your natural aura to protect it. You have any idea how much Superman has to repair his cape?"

He grumbled a little as he walked to where I pointed. "Hope the final version isn't so tight… you said this was just a prototype right?"

"Yeah, derived from what STAR labs could figure out from the ruined suit Cadmus gave you." I said as I arranged a few sensors around the room. "To be honest it's a bit of a failure, I wanted to give it more functionality. But, even as it is, it's worth checking if the functionality it does have actually works the way I think it does."

Connor shifted a little. "So… what does it do?"

I shrugged. "Stores and filters solar energy. Which I'm going to be hitting you with in a moment." I walked to my own position outside the circle and executed a few commands. The floor beneath Connor started to glow, and several holographic readout appeared in the air near him. "Alright, testing in three, two, one." With that, the aperture on my hand opened and I fired a strong white sunlight beam at Conner. The beam hit the suit and immediately started being absorbed into the material. I watch the readout on the energy propagation through the suit as I said "Ok, you should be feeling it right about… now."

Connor shifted slightly. "Yeah… yeah it feels like I'm outdoors on a sunny day." He said, though he didn't sound that enthused. "I mean, it's great and all, but I don't see it being that useful."

I gave a one armed shrug. "If it was just this, maybe. Your body can naturally absorb enough sunlight to last you well through a normal Earth night without a problem, but this might be useful for an extended space mission. But, storage is not all this thing does. It should also protect you from red sunlight, like so." The light beam I was emitting then shifted color from white to a deep red.

The red light flowed over suit, but according to the read out none of it was getting through. Also pleased to see that none of the white solar energy was being drained either. "How do you feel?" I asked. "Any weaker?"

Connor's face plate had turned completely opaque in response to the beam, but I heard him say "No, still feel good."

"Good to hear. The suit also _might_ give you some protection from kryptonite, but I wouldn't rely on it. Kryptonite radiation is much more penetrative than sunlight." For once, I couldn't rely on the Kryptonian medical data, because, well, kryptonite hadn't existed when that data was made. I had to go off of what STAR Labs gave me, and most of what they knew about it was 'wrap it in lead'.

We spent the next couple of minutes switching between white and red sunlight, stress testing the suit and seeing how it performed. I noticed a few signs of micro-level wear and tear as I tried to overcharge it, but otherwise it was preforming to expectations. After a bit Connor asked "So, is that it?"

"Not quite, one last thing to test." I said, and he tilted his head in curiosity. I started to explain. "We've seen what white sunlight and red sunlight do to you. So what happens… when we hit you with _blue_ sunlight?"

The beam I was emitting changed color again, this time changing to a bright blue. The white of Connor's suit started to shift to blue at the point of impact, slowly spreading across his body. A slight frown crossed my face when I saw the data readouts though. _Hmm, the switch over is happening a lot slower than predicted, the suit's needs to evenly distribute the new energy first. Going to have to fix that in the next version._

"Blue sunlight?" Connor asked.

I stopped my musings to respond "The Photo-Nucleic effect is complicated, particularly for Kryptonians. According to the data I have, Kryptonian cells can absorb and metabolize even more blue sunlight than white. This results in heightened power, and some new abilities. And if I'm right, I think this helps explain why you're the way you are."

The boy tilted his head, now fully ignoring the beam striking him to plant his hands on his hips and give me a critical look. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"When I said half your DNA was Kryptonian, I wasn't really being accurate. You have Superman's entire genetic structure in some of your tissues, Luthor's entire genetic structure in others, and a few that are an actual mix of both. You're a genetic chimera, and one built in such a way that you _should_ be able to do all the things Superman can do. And yet you instead have 'stepped down' versions of his powers instead. Thermal vison instead of X-ray vison, limited strength with no flight even though those are just different aspects of the same energy field."

The look the boy was giving me was telling me to get to the point, so I continued "I believe that Krptonian powers only turn on when the body's energy storage reaches certain thresholds. And you can't reach Superman's normal threshold, because only half of your cells can store energy like his. So the question is how do we get around that limit, and my answer is giving you a different type of solar energy you can store more of." I checked the read outs. "Which should be hitting you right about… now."

Conner straighten as the suit fully switched over to blue sunlight, not doubt unused to the sensation. I continued "Now, full disclosure: I'm really not sure what, if anything, this will do for you. It might do nothing, and if it does do something I don't know how long it will take before-"

The was an instant where Connor's faceplate glowed red before the whole thing melted and twin red beams hit the wall right next to my head. I ducked as Connor started to swivel his head in a panic (destroy some equipment in the process). "How do I turn it off?!" He yelled.

"Close your eyes, damn it!" I yelled back from my prone position on the floor. A few seconds later the boy clasped his hands over his face and curled up a little, the beams cutting off. The air was filled with the sound of sizzling stone, and I took note of the glowing gouges that now lined some of the walls of my lab. I got to my feet and slowly looked at the one responsible. "Well… I guess that technically counts as a success. Going to have to redesign the helmet though."

Connor ripped off the now ruined head piece before he shifted away and looked at me in embarrassment. "I-I'm so sorry! I didn't-" He cut off when he noticed that he didn't actually walk when he moved. He stared down at his feet, now a good foot off the ground. He made a small sound as he experimentally drifted left and right.

A small smile crept onto my face. "Connor," I said as I formed my aerokinetic core and lifted off the ground myself in kind. "Want me to help you learn how to fly?"

* * *

Superboy and I weaved through Metropolis's skyscrapers, ducking back and forth between the towers as I tried to keep the younger man in my sights. _He couldn't have picked a less populated location?_ I thought as one of his turns took him dangerously close to a building. He hadn't made any grievous errors that required my intervention yet, but he was certainly keeping me more focused on him than I would have liked. Still, it wasn't hard to guess why he wanted to try out his new abilities in this particular city.

We had stopped at a few locations to test his other abilities and confirm that he had Superman's full powerset, but flight was currently winning out as his favorite thus far. And in spite of what I had said earlier, I didn't really have anything to teach him. My type of flying was a lot different from his and Kori's, and it seemed pretty intuitive to boot. To be honest I just wanted to keep an eye on him while he flew for the first time. Because I knew that he was going to do it the moment I let him out of my sight otherwise, and he would run out of blue sunlight power sooner rather than later.

Speaking of which, I was surprised to find how often he needed me to top him off with more. I'm sure the fact that he didn't have his helmet wasn't helping, but Connor was burning through the energy surprisingly fast. If I fully charged his suit and let him go it would run out of charge in about an hour at the current rate, and he'd run out of energy shortly after that. I guess Kryptonians also metabolize blue light faster than white light.

Superboy finally finished his latest loop around the city and came to a stop in midair, hovering above a busy intersection. "This is amazing," he marveled as he looked down at the people below. "I can hear all of them. It's hard to make out, but… I wish I could have felt this sooner."

"Sorry about that," I said as I drifted to a stop next to him. I was actually a little embarrassed how long it had taken me to think of it, at least seriously. The idea of exposing Superboy to blue sunlight had occurred to me when I first started to analyze his physiology, but at the time I didn't have a good way to emulate it. Besides, I didn't think giving him 'Superman vision' was what he was after. It wasn't until long after Superman gave me the medical data that it occurred to me that it might do something more. "Took me a bit to put the pieces together in my head."

The boy winced before looking at me. "Ah, sorry, not what I meant. I… thanks. For doing this for me." He smiled before picking at his suit a little. "Kinda surprised that you consider this to be a failed prototype."

"I wanted it to be able to directly convert any sunlight into blue sunlight," I explained. "But I couldn't figure out how to integrate that into the fabric without making it bulky and fragile. I'll see if I can fix that for the next version. I… can't really do anything to make this permanent though." I gestured to him in the air.

I saw a slight frown cross his face before he shrugged. "Don't worry about it. You can probably-" He cut of mid-sentence, his head cocking to the side. "You hear that? Sounds like screaming."

I focused on my hearing, and sure enough I faintly heard it. _His hearing's better than mine_ , I mused before I said "I hear it. Want to do a live test, then?"

He nodded and the two of us shot off towards the source of the sound, about a minute later we found ourselves approaching a six story residential apartment. Smoke and flames poured out of the fourth story windows, and I could see people running out of the ground entrance. Emergency services were nowhere in sight, so it must have just happened. I looked at Superboy and asked "Superboy, how big is the fire? Are there people trapped?"

"How am I-" he started to say before his eyes widened. "Oh, right!" His eyes then narrowed as he focused his X-ray vision. "…the fire's contained to the fourth floor for now, but it's spreading. Everyone fourth floor and down are out of the building, but there are a few above that are trapped."

"Right, you get the people, I'll put out the fire."

He scowled. "I can take the heat!"

"I'm sure you can, but can you take the smoke inhalation? Besides, you're the one who knows where all the civilians are. You can get to them and get them out much faster than me."

He hesitated for a second before he nodded and shot forward, heading for the top floor. Meanwhile I dove straight through one of the windows spewing smoke and flame, landing on the floor and taking quick stock. The smoke was blinding, but my blindsight and thermal vision showed me the layout and flames well enough. My forearms reconfigured into freeze rays, set for maximum penetration. In their base setting, the freeze beams would 'splash' against the first non-gaseous thing they hit and freeze the water in the air around them, but there wouldn't be much water amid the inferno. What I had set them to would directly chill the material they hit instead.

I walked through the building, firing at any source of heat or flame I could find, and cooling any walls I could see for good measure. I had to be careful not to super-cool anything and have it crack, but in short order the majority of the flames had been subdued. I was hunting down the few remaining hot spots when Superboy found his way to me. "I got all the people out," He said, coughing a few times. The smoke was still pretty thick, but it only seemed to annoy him rather than suffocate him. "Are we done here?"

"Just about-" I started to say before a metallic groan caused both of us to look at a nearby wall. Calling it a wall might have been a stretch though, as it had been almost entirely gutted by the fire. The metal beams that made it up were cracking and bending. "Crap, that's a loadbearing wall." I said, glancing around. "The switch from hot to cold must have weakened the beams too much." Depending on how much stuff was directly above the point, the collapse could cause a cascade.

Superboy didn't hesitate, flying towards the buckling ceiling and bracing it with his arms. "Heh, barely even feel it." He muttered.

I quickly assessed our options before I said "Hold that for a few seconds, I'll be back." I ran to the nearest window and jumped out, taking flight and shooting down the street. We had passed a construction site on the way here, and soon enough I spotted what I needed. A few construction workers scrambled away as I landed on a pile of small steel beams. "Excuse me, citizens, I must requisition these." I picked up a pair of beams and flew back to the building.

Getting through the window with them was tricky, but I managed, and I set one of the beams on the floor. I eyeballed the other one and the space from the ceiling to the floor before I held it up to Superboy. "Hey, cut it here." I said, gesturing to a point on the middle.

Superboy's eyebeams sliced the beam apart, and I proceeded to slide it into place. Repeating this and some quick arc-welding later, the improvised supports were in place. Superboy coughed again. "Ok, _now_ are we done?"

I nodded and we left the building, settling on the roof just in time to see the firetrucks arrive. We regarded them for a moment before the two of us fist bumped.

"Well, this is something I don't usually see," The two of us turned to see Superman floating towards us. His eyes flicked between me and Superboy before he continued "Typically I'm the one who gets to these things first and-" The man cut himself off and froze in the air when Superboy lifted off the ground to meet him, his eyes going wide at the sight. "You… you can fly?"

"Yes!" Superboy said enthusiastically before he reined himself back a little. "I mean. It's only temporary, but Machina figured out how to power me up."

"Blue sunlight," I offered as I joined the floating party. "Kryptonians can absorb more of it compared to white sunlight, and it's enough to unlock the rest of his abilities."

Superman looked very unsure of himself for several moments, eventually looking at Superboy and saying "Well, that good to hear, I suppose."

The younger man's jaw clenched, tension filling his posture. Superman shifted uncomfortably in response. I looked between the two of them, feeling uncertain. _Why is this so awkward?_ I wondered. Trying to relieve the tension, I said "So… we were just in the city to give Superboy's abilities a test run. If you've got time, maybe we could do some old fashioned patrolling?"

"I… don't think that's a good idea," Superman said. "You two seem to be doing-"

"Oh come on!" Superboy yelled, his frustration boiling over. "What do you want from me?!"

"I- What?" Superman asked in confusion.

"It's not all the time, but I can still be as strong as you! I can keep up!"

 _Oh boy, this again_ , I thought. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that his insecurities were raising their ugly head, but Superman's behavior wasn't helping either. It seemed like something was bothering the older superhero… but he had been fine when he first started speaking to us. "Superboy," I laid a hand on the young man's shoulder. "I'm sure that's not what he's talking about."

"No! He's always like this!" the boy shook my hand off. "Every time I've tried to talk to him he's always brushed me off! Because of how I was made!"

"That…" I trialed off as I looked at Superman, who gave me an unreadable look back. I turned to Superboy again. "You're reading into it too much. He doesn't care about what you are, in that way."

"Are you sure about that?" he asked angrily.

I rolled my eyes and looked at him. "Of course I am, he's Superman, he's _better_ than that!"

Superman flinched like he had been struck. I looked at him, and felt confusion as he looked away from me. Seriously, what was going on here? Why wasn't he acting like…

Like the Superman that I knew.

I went completely still as the realization hit me, and I felt ashamed of myself. _Oh god I didn't think- how could I have been so thoughtless?_ Before I could say anything though, Superman pulled away from us. "I'm sorry, I… have been rude. I should go." He turned into a blur as he shot away from us.

"Superman, wait!" I called out after him, but he was already gone.

Superboy gestured to the open air. "You see?! He just flies away when he doesn't want to deal with me."

I didn't answer immediately, but when I did I shook my head. "No, I think it might be more complicated than that." I turned to the younger man and put a hand on his shoulder. "You're right that he's not treating you fairly, though. Head back to the mountain, I'm going to go talk to Superman and get to bottom of this."

His mouth pressed in a thin line, but he did calm down a little. "So you'll 'handle it' then?" he asked, his tone mimicking the one we got from Batman when he said the same thing.

I shook my head. "I can't promise it will all work out. But I _will_ get you an answer for why he's acting like this, one way or another."

"…Alright."

The two of us split, and I went looking for the man I had until just then forgotten was more than just a character. I just had to make a quick stop at a convenience store first.

* * *

Lucky for me, my intuition on what Superman was up to was correct, and soon enough I was cresting over the top of the Daily Planet building. Superman sat on the top of the massive globe, staring out across the city. "How did you know I was here?" He asked as I landed and walked up behind him.

"I mean, it was this or the Fortress of Solitude," I replied as I came to a stop beside the man. "This was the one I could reach in a timely manner."

He gave small nod to himself before he finally turned his head to look at me. "I-"

"I'm sorry."

Superman blinked at me interruption. 'I… what?"

"When I first got to this world, I made a promise to myself. That I would never think of anyone here as just 'characters', but like the people you actually are." My jaw clenched. "It seems I failed to keep that promise. I… thought of you superhero from my childhood, the paragon, the icon. When I met you for the first time, you really did seem to be all of those things. I assumed you just were the person I thought you were from those stories, and I just… never considered you might be different. That you might be your own person."

Superman was very unsure of himself for several moments before he responded. "It's good to hear you say that, but you weren't that far out of line. I never got the impression that you thought less of me, or didn't think I was real."

"Maybe not, but I was treating you like…" I trailed off as I struggled for words. "You were the ideal, rather than the person. Even if it is 'positive', that's not fair to you. And so, I'm sorry."

He gave me an easy smile and said "Apology accepted." He then hesitated before saying "So, now what?"

"Now, the traditional conciliatory gesture." A seam appeared on my torso before opening to reveal a pair of bottles, cooled to the perfect temperature via freeze tech (proof that it could be used for something other than evil).

I handed one of the bottles to him, which he took with a quirked eyebrow. "Thanks, though alcohol doesn't really do anything for me… and it shouldn't do anything for you either."

I snorted before popping off the cap of my bottle with my thumb. "Like that's going to stop us. It's the principle of the matter, damn it." I said before I knocked back a mouthful.

Superman looked bemused for a second before he mimicked me and took a drink himself. I took this as a sign to sit next to him, and for a minute or so the two of us just sat in silence. Eventually though, I turned to Superman and said "But… since I'm treating you like a regular person now, that means I get to call you out. For instance, what's the deal with you and Superboy?"

Superman sighed. "I'd rather not talk about it, if that's alright."

"Well, too bad. I'm his friend, and I'm responsible for him. So when he's upset, I need to find out why. And right now, the thing that's upsetting him the most is how you've been treating him. And after seeing it myself, I'm starting to agree with him."

Superman didn't look at me right away, sighing as he continued to look out at the cityscape. Eventually he replied "I can't be what he wants me to be."

"Which is…?" I asked as I tilted my head.

"His father," He said softly. "I wasn't expecting him, I wasn't ready for him. He's not-" Superman struggled to find the words. "He was created because of me, I know, but I didn't want this! He deserves someone who can give him what he needs, not… someone who sees something made to be a weapon every time they look at him." He shook his head. "It's not fair to him, especially now. But I don't know if I'm responsible for him or not."

I didn't respond immediately, waiting to see if he had anything more to say. When he didn't continue, I said "And have you told Connor any of this?"

"Well, no. I had hoped that he would manage to find his own way."

I let out a soft groan and rubbed my face with my hand. "Ok, I see what the problem here is." He gave me a look and I continued "Being around him makes you uncomfortable. After all, he's a walking reminder of the violation of your personhood."

Superman flinched a little. "Not.. quite how I would have put it."

 _It would have been just as accurate to call him your 'unwilling' baby_ , I thought dryly, but I kept that to myself. "I'm not going to deride you for how you feel about it. Hell, I don't think you have to be his 'father' if you don't want to. But you do have to at least acknowledge his existence. You are aware the Connor thinks you hate him for not being as powerful as you, right?"

"What?!" Superman sat up straight in alarm, looking at me with wide eyes. "That's- that's absurd! Why would he think that?"

"Well, for one thing, ever since he came out of the pod he's been really self-conscious to how he's not as strong as you. And for another, you've repeatedly pushed him away every time he's tried to talk to you, with no real explanation why. To top it off, _he's a teenager_. Of course he was going to conflate the two. What did you think he'd take away from it?"

Then man buried his face in his hand. "I had had no idea. I knew that he would need people to be… there for him, but I thought that you could provide him with that."

I arched an eyebrow. "I appreciate the vote of confidence, and I'd like to think I'm helping, but I'm not what he really wants right now. I'm sure eventually I could help him with his issues, but if you keep trying to keep him at arm's length without actually talking to him, he's going to end up resenting you. Do you really think that's worth not having to deal the awkwardness now?"

Superman sighed before he pulled his head him. "No. No it is not." He then knocked back his beer and took a long drag, draining the rest of the bottle in one go. He handed the empty bottle to me and got to his feet. "Thank you, Jacob. Connor is lucky to have a friend like you."

"Well, someone's gotta look out for the damn kids." I grumbled as I picked myself up. "Just make sure to have that talk sooner rather than later. I _will_ find a way to kick your ass if you don't."

Superman smirked. "You know, I actually believe you." He then flew off and out of sight.

=====A=====

I have no idea if Superboy has ever been exposed to blue sunlight in the comics. Also, the idea that Kryptonian powers are locked behind 'energy thresholds' is entirely my own idea, but I feel it makes sense with what I have seen in the comics and Young Justice.


	51. 12-2

=====A=====

"You sure you don't want to ask Wally for help?" I asked Artemis, the girl sitting on the opposite side of the dining room table from me amid a pile of books. "I mean, I'll totally help you with your science homework, but he's the chemistry expert."

"Yeah, well," she made a vague gesture with the hand that was holding a pencil. "I have no idea where he goes in his free time, and I don't feel like owing him favors right now. Besides you're the super-science guy on the team, I'm sure you're good enough."

"If you insist," I said, pulling one of her worksheets towards me. A little surprised that the girl needed help with her homework so early in the year, but I guessed the curriculum at her new school was different from her previous one. "You should know that I was more of a physics guy in high school, though."

She made a small sound before she paused and looked at me with a cocked eyebrow. "I just realized I have a hard time imagining you in high school. I mean, not the grey shapeshifter thing, but you just… being a normal student. Feel like you would build an automatic trebuchet of doom in the machine shop or something."

I chuckled. "My engineering habits are a recent thing. Before all this I was… moderately intelligent. I did consider becoming a scientist proper back then," I shrugged and my lips quirked. "But then I realized that would be really hard, so I became a programmer instead."

"Well, good thing you swung back to the hard stuff. That gear you made really helped when we took on the Terrors." She said. "Just make sure you don't go all mad scientist on us."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that." I said as I flipped through sheets. "Originally when I started this superhero thing, I had planned on dedicating my life to one of pure science. However, a certain red haired temptress distracted me and has led me astray from that noble cause." I was met with silence, and when I looked up I saw Artemis looking at me flatly. "What? She seduced me!"

"Pretty sure she didn't have to try very hard."

I grumbled, but shuffled over next her and started to help her pick apart the assignment. There was a lot of me dredging up memories of high school chemistry (and doing some on the spot googling), but the two of us managed to make some headway in solving the list of formula equations. I messed up a lot when it came to diatomic molecules though, just like in high school. I cursed my arch-nemesis Professor Hofbrincl many a time (much to Artemis's confusion).

I had gotten so focused that it took me a while to notice that Artemis's homework papers had the school emblem in their top-right corner. I looked at it for a moment before I cast her a sidelong glance and said, "So, Gotham Academy, huh?"

Her head snapped toward me in alarm, and I gave small tilt of my head back at the paper. She looked back and saw the emblem, letting out a groan. "Ugh… all right, fine, I live in Gotham. But don't go telling everyone."

I leaned back. "I won't, but why not? It's not a big deal."

"I just… want to keep things separate, you know? This whole superhero thing is great and all, but I like having a normal life to go back to at the end of the day. And that gets kinda hard when you show up in my neighborhood."

"Aww, but I wanted to show up to your school and embarrass you in front of your friends."

She snorted. "Bette would probably too busy fawning over you to notice. You should see the looks she gives the guys on the lacrosse team."

"Oh hey, you did manage to befriend someone." I said in pleasant surprise.

She shifted in her seat. "Yeah… she's a nice person. Haven't really gotten to know anyone other than her and her friends though. Things are pretty cliquey there."

I leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, "Have you made anyone cry yet?"

"…Maybe." She mumbled as she shrunk down in her chair a little.

"Yes! High five!" I exclaimed and extended my hand, palm presented.

She ignored me for several long seconds, scribbling away on her paper. Eventually she looked back up at me, finding me unmoving. She rolled her eyes and hi-fived me back. "I can't tell if my mom would think you're a great or terrible role model…"

"I contain multitudes," I remarked.

A little while longer and we were mostly done with her chemistry homework. We got chatting about the upcoming week and everyone's schedule, and when I brought up how Kaldur had been making regular trips back to Atlantis to get some extra magical training, a thought occurred to me. "Oh yeah, how's the search for Fate's replacement going?"

Artemis scowled and looked back down at her paper. "It's not." She said flatly.

I rubbed my chin. "Yeah, you probably don't meet a lot of mages in your day to day life. Well, the magical world is one of the bigger blind spots when it comes to the League database, but I'm sure I could help-"

"No I mean I'm not doing it. At all."

I blinked. "Wait, what? Why not?"

"Why not? Why _not_?!" Her head snapped up and she looked at me incredulously. "The damn thing held me hostage until I agreed to do what it wanted! The _hell_ I'm going to actually do it, and expecting otherwise is bullshit! And even if that wasn't the case, I refuse to condemn another person to being that bucket's prisoner!"

I was struck silent by her tirade, not sure what to say. I… honestly hadn't thought about the whole Fate thing too much. As always, I had more immediately pressing things to worry about. And to be fair, I had assumed that after we found a suitable candidate, we'd hash things out with the Lord of Order so that the person wouldn't just be a slave. But Artemis refusing to do even that on principle… well, wasn't actually unreasonable. "I… guess you have a point." After a few moments thought, I decided that if we wanted to deal with this, we'd have to do something first. "I suppose we're going to have to negotiate with the bucket then."

* * *

It was later that evening that I found myself in the main hall of the Mountain, the rest of the team gathered around me. It had felt like ages since all of us has been together, even if it really had only been a few weeks. This wasn't a mission though, so everyone was in their casual clothes. Robin gave me an arched eyebrow from behind his sunglasses. "So, what this about? Are you going to be sending us on missions now?"

I shook my head. "No, if everything goes right, you guys shouldn't have to do anything at all. But, we don't have a good track record for things going right, so here we are. The long and short of it is, we need to do something about Helmet of Fate. Artemis has pointed out there are some ethical issues with doing as he asked."

Wally let out a low whistle. "You can say that again. Giving up the rest of your life so that a hat can wear _you_? That's messed up."

"I'm fine with just leaving him in the box," Artemis offered.

"While your position is understandable, I would prefer a different solution." The group turned to see Red Tornado approaching us, the android drifting down from his room to land next to me. "There is no denying that Fate's actions towards you were… questionable, but he had been isolated from all contact for sixty years. That would make anyone behave rashly when faced with the prospect of returning to said isolation."

"It's more than 'rash'," Artemis muttered before she glanced at me. "So, the League knows then?"

"Red Tornado knew Doctor Fate personally," I said. "The two of them were in the Justice Society together. I figured that having a familiar face around will help keep Fate calm. Also, Red Tornado lives here, so no real reason not to let him know we're doing this."

Kaldur's brow furrowed a little. "You're implying that you mean for one of us to put the helmet on. So that we can negotiate with him."

"Yes. Specifically, I mean me."

Artemis gestured in frustration. "Which is stupid! You shouldn't risk yourself for something as dumb as this. Can't you find another way to talk to the damn thing?"

"Not as far as I could find out," I replied. "I called Zatara to get his option on it, and he said that the helmet was made to prevent outside tampering. The only way to properly interact with Doctor Fate is to put it on."

"But are you sure-"

"For the last time, yes." I said. "If we're serious about getting Fate a new host, we need to know how much leeway they're going to get, and that's going to require some talking. And out of all of us here, I'm the least likely to end up getting body-jacked by the man in the process. Both because I'm synthetic and have magic that protects me from control. Assuming that this even works at all."

Kadur got back to the matter at hand. "But if it does work, what do we do if Fate is unwilling to release control?"

I shrugged. "Beat me up and tear the helmet off. Speak off which, Wally." I turned to the teen. "You have a special role to play in that."

"Really? Oh I get it, because I'm the only one fast enough to take you out!"

"Something like that. But, I made you a special weapon that I think will help." I reached behind me and pulled a two foot long tube off my back. I grasped the handle at one end of the tube and pulled, revealing it to be a sword and sheathe. And not just any kind of sword either. "This is a High Frequency Blade," I said, the cross guard folding out of the hilt. "Just finished making it. Pull this trigger here to make the edge of the blade to vibrate fast enough to dissolve the molecular bonds of whatever it touches. It pretty much cuts through anything. This one is specifically made for you, as it has contacts in the hilt that can draw electrical energy from your suit."

Wally took the blade from me, holding it out at arm's length. "Whoa, majorly cool… also kinda terrifying, but cool." He glanced back at me. "But, how's this supposed to help?"

"If things go wrong, I want you to cut off my head."

"What?!"

"Calm down, I'll be fine," I assured him. "I've had my head blown off before. It's part of the reason why I'm the one doing this. If worse comes to worst and Fate takes over my body, you guys can solve it by cutting the proverbial Gordian Knot."

"Which is _literally_ your neck!" The boy insisted.

I sighed. "Yes it is. Just trust me on this one, alright? Also, I need you to head to the common room until Kori gives you the signal. If things go south we'll want the element of surprise, which will be a lot easier if Fate doesn't see you hanging around with a sword."

"This is seriously messed up…" he muttered. A moment later the boy blurred out of sight.

I glanced back at the rest of the group. "Alright, I'm going to go get the helmet." With that, I jumped into a nearby vent and started crawling my way through the ducts. After make a number of turns I came to a section that looked the same as the metal around it, but after I emitted a signal a seam opened up in front of me. It revealed a small hollow section with a case inside. I took the case and headed back to the main room, dropping back in front of the people waiting for me. I placed the case on the ground and opened it, pulling out the Helmet of Fate from its secure padding.

Blue lines traced all over my body as I engaged _Core-Loop Reinforcement Protocol_ , but before I could put on the helm, a thought occurred to me. Looking into the empty eye holes, I said "Fate, I am putting on the helm just to talk to you. I do not want to be your host, and I do not consent to you taking over my body after our conversation is done." I had no idea if just saying that could actually stop him from trying, but it was worth stating my intention nonetheless. And without further ado, I put the helm on my head.

I then had a sensation that was both foreign and familiar: the sensation of a square peg trying to be forced into a round hole. It was very similar to a lot of the work Serling did while trying to crack my compiler code, but… on a different axis, if that made sense. With Serling, I had felt it against my imaginary brain, but this was causing the Algorithm to react. Given that this was magic, I guessed that the helmet didn't normally interact with entities like myself.

"So… did it work?" Artemis asked hesitantly.

"Not yet. Need to resolve some compatibility issues." I replied before mentally diving into dataspace, cutting off everything other than the sensation I was feeling. In a moment it was just me and a point of golden-yellow light in a dark void. I stared at it for a long moment, turning the light this way and that, but nothing new happened. I could feel the 'force' it was exerting, but it just wasn't having an effect. Left without much else to do, I extended my hand to touch it and started poking at it with magic.

Specifically, I started leveraging the parts of the Algorithm that dealt with information. I had gotten a lot of practice in analyzing stuff with it, and since my session with Queen Mera I had taken whatever chance I could to use it on magic (mainly Kaldur's). It was strange and difficult, but there were certain 'patterns' I could recognize. Right now I needed to find some common ground between myself and the energy in front of me. Which should be possible. After all, it was order magic, and number could be pretty orderly.

The blue lines that made up my hand spread onto the point of light, tracing over its surface and rippling in a specific pattern _. So, how about we start with some basic Set Theory?_ The golden light started to pulse in the same rhythm in response **.** _Ok, I've been doing a lot with compliers lately so let's see if I can use that._ The blue framework around the light started to grow, folding outwards into a tall, flat structure. _Good so far, let's dive right into computation semantics, shall we?_ The golden light's rhythm changed in response to my own, and after each pulse it grew into the framework I was making for it.

The back and forth increased in pace until suddenly the golden light bloomed, spreading out to my left and right. When everything settled, there the outline of a large, flat rectangle in front of me, the edges glowing in gold and faint traces of Algorithm patterns across its surface. There was now a vague impression of a floor beneath my feet, and I felt the energy in front of me stretching out into the darkness on either side. So, a barrier then, separating me from Fate.

I started to reach out to the barrier, but I stopped when I saw my form had changed, or at least my appearance. I now wore jeans and a dark overshirt, and at first glance I appeared to have a normal human body. But, the longer I looked at myself the more I noticed something was off. The colors were too smooth, the lighting on my body too distinct. And the closer I looked I swore could see a countless number of small dots-

"Oh come on!" I yelled in exasperation. A mix of cell shading and dot shading? Really?

"I don't see any reason to get so riled up," A voice echoed from the other side of the barrier, and looking up a saw a figure walking out of the darkness. It was an old man in an old fashioned suit, a cane in his hand tapping the non-existent ground. I had only ever seen him through other people's eyes, but I recognized Kent Nelson as he came to a stop just in front of the barrier. "Most people would prefer the side that you're on. By the way, while it was polite of you to announce your intentions before putting on the helm, don't think that means Nabu can't keep you here." He glanced at the glowing pane between us. "Well, in normal circumstances…"

Artemis had told me how Nelson's spirit had possessed the helm, but seeing the dead man for myself was something else. It took me a moment to compose myself. "Ah… Mr. Nelson. Is this your doing?" I asked as I pressed my hand to the window between us, a soft golden light appearing around the point of contact.

He arched an eyebrow. "It's an odd interaction between the helmet's magic and your own. Though as to why you are so… colorful, I can only guess. From where I am standing, you have a very unusual soul." He tapped his cane against that wall at the same point as my hand, and with a ripple the 'skin' of my arm faded, revealing the line of my dataform underneath.

I pulled my arm back, and the coloration returned. I looked at my hand for a moment before I looked back at him. "Sir… I'm sorry we failed you-"

"Don't." He held up a hand to stop me. "I knew when I put the helmet on that it would be for the last time. The amount of strain on my body from fighting the Witch Boy all but guaranteed it."

I nodded grimly and took a deep breath (for as little sense as that made in this place). "So, I'm here to talk to Fate. Err, where is he?" I was still aware of my physical body, but it felt like it was… wrapped in a heavy blanket. I could move, but it was noticeable.

Nelson looked up at the darkness above. "Oh he's here. He's just not used to these circumstances."

Above him, a deep and resonant voice spoke. " **This is... unusual.** " Fate said. " **I do not care for this arrangement.** "

"Don't worry, it's not permanent." I remarked dryly. "Is this… uncomfortable or painful for you?"

" **No. But I am not used to this 'half measure' of control.** " As he said this, I felt a sort of pressure on my right arm. It was easy to resist, but out of curiosity I let it go, and in response my arm lifted up in front of myself. My hand clenched and unclenched in front of my face with awkward slowness. " **It is… unsatisfying.** "

Although the sound was muffled to me, I heard Red Tornado say "Nabu. It is good to see you again."

I blinked. "Wait, can they hear us?"

" **Not as such. But Red Tornado recognizes that I am present.** " Fate said as he nodded my head at the android.

"Ah. Well, you can use my mouth to talk to him if you want. I know it's been decades since the two of you have really seen each other."

"… **My thanks**." He said, and my body started to speak in a mixture of mine in his voice. At the same time though, I heard him clearly from the void beyond the barrier. " **I can split my focus, so that we may discuss the reason for your visit.** "

Nelson hummed. "Never one to take a rest when there's work to be doing, right Nabu?"

" **A lesson that you could stand to learn, Kent.** "

 _He's got you there, Mr. Eternity-Can-Wait._

Nelson looked over his shoulder. "Oh quiet you," He said before he looked back at me. "So, you wanted to talk, yes?"

I nodded. "About finding someone to wear the Helmet."

" **Has a new host been found?** "

"Not exactly," I said carefully. "The search has been difficult, and more information from you on what exactly you're looking for and what the host can expect of them is needed."

" **I thought I had been clear to the girl,** " Fate said. " **I require a host with strong magical abilities. Preferably a trained mage, as their body is more accustomed to the use of magic, but I can make due with someone with enough potential. They are expected to wear the helm and be my host.** "

"Alright, but for how long? Can they take it off if they want?"

" **No. I have been absent from the world too long, and I shall not take any more risks with a fickle host that puts me away at a whim.** "

I noticed that Mr. Nelson's jaw tightened a little. My eyes flicked to him then back up to the void. "Well, that last part is a bit of a problem. And not just because I doubt we'll find anyone willing to take that offer," I said. "Artemis raised the point that we can't ethically hand a person over for you to permanent possess the body. If they wanted out partway through, we'd have no way of knowing."

" **That would not be relevant. The host in question would have agreed to the terms before putting on the helmet.** "

"Yes, but what if they changed their mind later?"

" **If they put on the helmet, that would not matter.** "

I had to stop myself from pinching my nose. "Fate, if they don't have the option to quit, that is effectively slavery. Which is quite illegal." Hell, even indentured servants have the option to go to jail.

" **The laws of humans do not concern Fate.** " The voice above droned.

"Well they should, because they concern people that you're potentially body-jacking!" I yelled before I calmed down. "Look, we can make this work, we just need some concessions on your part. A set and regular period that the person can take it off would-"

" **No.** "

I waited for a moment to see if he hand anything else to add to that, but when the spirit didn't say anything else my mouth pressed into a thin line. "Well, we're at a bit of an impasse then."

" **This is unacceptable. Artemis promised that she would find me a host.** "

"Yes, she did, while you were holding her body hostage. Do you not see a problem with a promise extracted under such conditions?"

"… **Promises must be kept.** " Fate replied. " **Besides, Fate must be present to keep the world rid of Chaos's influence. If there is a price to be paid-** "

"No." I interrupted. " _That_ is unacceptable. There is no nation or set of laws on this planet that would recognize such a leonine contract. Hell, do you really think the Justice League would allow that? Your old teammates?"

The voice above was silent, though whether it was actually considering what I had said or just being petulant I couldn't tell. Though given Nelson's expression, I was guessing the latter. _He's an Order spirit_ , of course he's stubborn, I thought. _I need to try a different approach_. But I only had the one other thing. I didn't really want to bring it up either, but Kori had asked me to present the possibility to Fate, so I said, "How about this: Starfire's people have supposedly in their past bound themselves to the spirits of their home world. She doesn't know the proper rituals, but she is willing to see if it would be possible to do something similar with you. If it worked, it should give you some autonomy beyond the helmet."

Fate remained silent for several long seconds, hopefully considering what I had said. Eventually he replied, " **A… curious offer, if one close to the methods of Chaos. I doubt that it would work, however. Her meta-physical form is distinct from humans, and likely the spirits of her world adapted to that. I am not used to dealing with non-human souls in such a manner.** "

 _Spirits evolving along with living creatures? There's a novel concept,_ I thought. "Nevertheless, she is willing to try."

" **What is the exact nature of this bond? Would I have full control over my power?** "

I shrugged. "I couldn't say, there are no living examples. From what Starfire has told me, their Spiritcraft was more of a partnership. Both of your power and influence would flow both ways-"

" **Then no. I will only accept full control. Nothing must stop Fate.** "

I held in a groan, but I didn't bother pushing the point. I didn't like the idea of this uptight prick being bonded to Starfire any more than he seemed to. I folded my arms and stared into the darkness, but before I could come up with a retort, Nelson tapped his cane on the barrier between us. "Unless you have another idea, son, you might want to leave and try again later."

I looked at him in surprise. "Are you sure? I just got here."

"Trust me, I know a thing or two about arguing with Nabu, and I can tell when he starts to dig his heels in." He sighed, but gave me a small smile. "Still, I appreciate you coming in and trying to get a better deal for the next helm bearer. And for Starfire's offer of an alternative, though personally I'm happy he turned it down."

My eyes flicked to the silent darkness above then back to the ghost. "Personally I'm starting to see why you put the helmet down. How did you put up with him in the first place?"

A strange expression crossed the man's face, almost sad. "He... wasn't always like this."

" **Nonsense,** " Fate said, apparently finding this something worth responding to. " **Fate does not change.** "

"Really?" Nelson said flatly, the tip of his cane hitting the floor with a sharp crack. "Do you think Nazara would have approved how you treated Artemis?"

" **Do not test me, Kent!** " Nabu's voice boomed. " **You are here at my discretion. Do not forget that.** "

 _Well that hit a nerve_ , I wondered. Still, as much as I was curious, I felt that it would not help negotiations in the future if I pried into it now. "Fate," I called out. "It's time I took my leave."

" **So it would seem.** " The spirit remarked, but otherwise did nothing. I nodded to Nelson before I focused back on my physical body. Though it felt like I was moving through water, I reached up and pulled the helmet off my head, the real world snapping back into focus.

Kori stepped towards me first. "Jacob, are you alright? Did negotiation go well?"

I stared at the helmet in my hands for a long moment before I looked up at her. "This one's going to be tricky."

=====A=====


	52. 12-3

=====A=====

I had known that Red Tornado did most of his personal maintenance in his own room, but it was still surprising just how much equipment he had towards that purpose. His room was practically a second tech lab with all of the computers, waldos, fabrication stations, and diagnostic tools. As such, I had an entire workbench to myself as I worked on the latest bit of our joint venture. "I hope I didn't take away the tech lab's resources from you too much," I said over my shoulder. "When I first got here I assumed that no one else was going to be using it."

"It is no problem." Red Tornado replied, remaining still next to a computer which he was connected to by a cable. "The Mountain's tech lab was always meant to be a general purpose space to aid with missions, whereas my own technology is has its own peculiar specifications. It is much more convenient for everyone involved if I keep my own separate space for such matters."

"Alright, just let me know if you ever need something more general purpose." I said before I looked back to the workbench in front of me. My hands had split apart into over a dozen small appendages, each one tipped with some sort of tool or gripper. Held between the various mini-mechdendrites was the pile of circuits and metal I was working on.

It had started simply enough, with Red Tornado and I running into each other in the Mountain and starting some small talk. The conversation had drifted towards the human body he was working on, and the two of us started exchanging some ideas about it. We then realized that we both had some free time to spare, so we decided to put some work into it together. And that lead us here.

As I worked, I offhandedly said, "By the way, I forgot to ask but how did the conversation with Nabu go on your end?"

"As well as could be expected. Mostly he and I talked of mundane matters, catching up on history passed. Artemis… was not helpful, but things did not have the chance to escalate before you took the helmet off."

I grunted. "Not surprising. I only talked to him for a couple of minutes and he got on my nerves." I then mentally checked what I said and looked back at Red Tornado. "Err, no offense to Nabu."

"Nabu could be difficult for people to deal with in the best of times. His half century of isolation was unlikely to improve his social acumen."

"Was he… always like this? Did he say or do anything that seemed weird to you?" It was a longshot, but part of me hoped that Nabu was under some kind of influence that made him an inflexible jerkass.

"…He called himself Fate." I blinked as I stared at the android, who continued. "When he spoke through your body he referred to himself as Fate, not Nabu. When I first met him, Nabu disliked the moniker of 'Doctor Fate'. It was given to him by the U. S. Office of War Information when he joined the All Star Squadron, for promotional reasons. To see him use it now is… strange."

I turned to face him fully. "Do you think that the isolation affected him?"

"Perhaps, though I recall his behavior changed slightly in the years after the second world war. He came to fewer Society meetings, and what little social interaction he had with others dwindled. It wasn't until Kent stopped wearing the helmet five years later that Doctor Fate made regular appearances again."

I paused for a moment. "Was Mr. Nelson still operating at Doctor Fate after that?"

"For another two decades, yes. During this time he crafted and wore a half-helm made to boost Order magic. It was not near the power of the Helmet of Fate, but it proved a useful tool regardless."

"Really? Going to have to ask him about that next time we talk…" I muttered. Even if it wasn't a suitable replacement for Doctor Fate, having such a tool at our disposal would be a great help.

"Jacob," I returned my focus to Red Tornado. "While we are speaking on the subject, I feel I should ask: Would you consider being an 'interim' Doctor Fate? I know you have no interest in assuming the role permanently, but allowing Nabu some time to do his duties would likely soften his position. As well, I would consider it a personal favor."

I frowned. "I'll see how far I can take the interface next time, but I don't think that's possible. The halfway state we were in didn't let Nabu channel a lot of power through me. And I fear that the only way to increase that would be to cede more control over to him, which I am not willing to do." And that was assuming I even could take it farther than I had. At the very least I'd have to put more work into… let's call it my _Thaumaturgy Operation Interface_ script.

Red Tornado bowed his head slightly. "Understandable, though I do hope you think about it. I fear that Nabu's behavior will not change unless he is granted some concessions."

I didn't have anything to say to that, so I instead turned back to putting the finishing touches on my work. While I had been working on Red Tornado's humanoid body, I had raised some concerns about his hardware. One thing about super-tech from the 1940's is that it is very unique, and doesn't really interface with anything else. The android had managed to kludge together some rough interfaces over the years (like the one he was currently using for the computer he was connected to), but he wasn't really an engineer, and he had difficulty keeping up with technological changes. So, I suggested that for his new body, it would be a good idea for me to teach him to integrate modern tech with his existing architecture.

Of course, that meant I also had to figure out how to do that, which meant some testing. And since the humanoid body wasn't ready yet, we'd have to test it on Red Tornado's normal body. We settled on the idea of crafting a small module to integrate into his frame, and I had just the thing in mind.

"And… there." I said forming my hand back into its normal shape and picking up the component I had just finished. About the size of a small apple, it looked like a mix of modern and mid-century electrical components, with several large capacitors running up one side and a custom connection port. "One electrokinetic module. It was an interesting exercise adapting this from the one's I made for my drones to your own body." The hardware architecture I had adapted from my own internal configuration of the aerokinetic core required less changes than I would have thought. I suppose the original had some similarities to Red Tornado already.

Red Tornado unplugged himself and walked towards me, gripping his front chest plate carefully as a soft clang preceded him pulling off a strip in the middle. I got a good view of his robotic 'ribcage' which housed many of his critical systems. Using mechadendrite fingers I carefully snaked the module under the main plate, moving the component through his internals before I slotted it into the side of his heart-like core. "It's in."

"Connecting to module… connection established. Installing drivers… complete. Running diagnostic…" Red Tornado was silent for a minute before he said "Complete. All systems nominal."

"Good to hear." Making sure the thing you made doesn't immediately fail is always a good step. "Think you can run a test?"

"After some simulations," Red Tornado said before he was still for a long minute, processing the data from his new attachment. Eventually he raised a hand in front of himself, and a few small sparks leap from his fingers. Other than that though, nothing. "As expected. The configuration of my effector emitters is incapable of propagating a large electric charge." He turned his hand so that the palm was facing upwards, and a small red tornado came into being. "But perhaps if I use it more indirectly, by increasing electrostatic reactions in a given atmosphere."

The min-tornado in his palm picked up speed, and as it did I heard a sharp crackle fill the air. Soon enough a saw a flash of blue lightning come from inside the funnel. More and more started to form before the entire tornado was framed by electricity.

I clapped my hands together. "Alright, now we're talking!"

Red Tornado held it for a few more seconds before he let the twister dissipate, the electricity puttering out as the wind died. A few sparks leapt off his hand, which he stared at for a second. "Hmm. I may need to increase my electrical shielding before I use this function to its fullest. However, it will be a useful option to have against harder targets."

"And more importantly," I cut it, "It proves we can adapt modern tech to work with your own."

"Indeed." He turned away from me and walked back to the computer he had been working on, tapping a few keys. "Now let us see if we can perform a similar feat for you."

While I had been working on hardware for the android, he had decided to work on software for me in order to reciprocate. Ever since Serling had finished my compiler I had been spending a lot of time studying my own source code, as it were. It was fiendishly complicated and ever changing (I was still running, after all), but I had already identified the parts that governed specific device configurations. As such, I wanted to see if I could inject some code from the resident wind android into my aerokinetic core.

And it seemed that he finished compiling the code package for my complier, as he then pulled a USB key from the computer he had been working on. He took it over to me. "It was difficult to determine which functions would work best with your… software systems, but I believe I have established the most fundamental principles and math."

I took the key and 'plugged' it into my arm, a port forming and downloading the data into me. In my personal dataspace, I felt the data flow into the 'staging zone' I had constructed before I shunted it towards the code that governed my aerokinetic core. I felt the code in me shift and change in response to the new addition, and it only took a few moments before it fully ingratiated itself.

"Seems to work," I muttered as I formed the aerokinetic core, but rather than assuming flight form I created several effector emitters beneath my limbs, keeping them otherwise human in shape. 'Effector' was the nickname I had given the field generating devices that Red Tornado had throughout his body (one which he had picked up), and were what he used to interact with the air around him. Mister Twister hadn't had anything like these on him, so whatever his equivalent was must have been centralized in his chest. Which Superboy had put his fist through. Well, time to see if I could fix that.

I powered up my systems, slowly letting the effectors take hold of the air. I floated off the ground, and then started to gently push myself using the air around me. I drifted left and right, stopping quickly when I willed it. _Nice, guess I don't have to fully transform when I want to recreationally fly anymore_ , I thought before I extended my arm towards the far wall. _But let's try something stronger._

Wind started swirling around me and compressed, funneling in around my right arm. It compressed as much as it could, the air visibly distorting around the limb. There was still a light breeze around the rest of me, but most of the force was contained in the cyclone around my arm. Carefully, I picked a wide open space along the wall and released.

The cyclone shot forward, only slightly losing cohesion before splashing against the concrete wall. A few loose objects in the room rattled, but I had kept the strength of the wind low enough that nothing got knocked over. When things died down, Red Tornado said "Very good. You have successfully emulated my functionality."

"Not quite to your capacity though," I remarked as I formed a small twister in my hand. I could tell that I would have some trouble scaling up to what I knew Red Tornado was capable of. Still, even if I couldn't managed the range or control that he could, I now had a lot more control over wind than I used to. "I'll have to run some tests and make some changes to optimize. But… this is still amazing."

"I am glad to hear it. Shall we go to the training room then?"

I almost said yes before I stopped myself. "You know what? That can wait till later. We shouldn't have our first real hangout day be all work."

"I see. Do you have something in mind?"

"Yep. A little show called _Star Trek: The Next Generation…_ "

* * *

Kori moaned softly as my fingers worked the flesh of her lower back, the woman stretching out in pleasure in response to my touch. "Oh, I needed this…"

"That was obvious," I remarked as I continued my work. I had gotten used to Kori coming to find me around certain points in the day, so when that didn't happen I had gone looking for her instead. And found her face down on the common room couch, thoroughly exhausted. The warrior princess could handle any number of monsters, villains, and world ending threats, but nothing drained her resolve like mind-numbing bureaucracy. In this case, it was Wonder Woman exposing her to all the red tape that the Justice League had to deal with from the U.N.

And thus, I did the first thing that came to mind, which was to work out the kinks in her back. Which she certainly appreciated, though couch wasn't the best place for it. And that's how we ended up on her bed, me kneeling over her and Kori stretched out on her stomach before me with her hair splayed out beside her.

She was also, as the woman was often wont to be, nude. I hadn't even suggested it, she just stripped the moment we reached her room. And it wasn't like I was going to tell her to stop.

Resting her head on her arms, she glanced up at me. "I'll remember to come find you from now on, when things grow tiresome. Not that I haven't been already…"

"And don't hesitate to do it more," I said, moving my hands up her back. "It's in the interest of everyone that our intrepid leader is at her best. And the fact that I get to touch you all over is completely incidental." My fingers traced a line down her spine, causing her to shiver a little.

She hummed and looked forward. "You know, it was rare that I was physically touched by anyone when I was on Tamaran, at least by those other than my family or personal guards. The threat of assassination from Citadelian colluders was too high. It was why I was so excited to finally start my training with the Okaarans. The sheer physical contact I got from sparring the other disciples was the most I had ever had."

I paused for a moment before I said. "I'm sorry. It must have been rough growing up."

She shrugged. "It wasn't all bad. I was royalty, after all. I could get much of anything I wanted, so long as I earned it. I just wish I hadn't always been treated like…" she hesitated as she tried to find the words. "A petite princess."

My eyes traced a line down from her broad shoulders, past her well defined back muscles, and all the way to her callipygian rear. "Out of the many words I would use to describe you, petite is not one of them."

She chuckled and playfully swatted my thigh. I joked, but I knew what she meant. The term 'little princess' in Tamaranian referred to a princess of great importance politically, but had very little authority or self-determination. So, basically a princess on Earth. I tried to make her forget such negative thoughts by carefully kneading the muscles around her shoulder blades, eliciting another soft hum from her. I had to admit, I doing surprisingly well for how recently I had picked the skill up. Then again, a lot of thing become easier when you can form subdermal nodes that can vibrate any part of your body at will.

…Anyway, my hands then moved up to the base of her neck. "I don't know if I can get you _anything_ you want, but if there's something in particular you have in mind-"

Kori waved her hand. "Oh, not you too. I already have plenty." She gestured to her room, currently lit by the sunset light coming from the far wall.

Kori's room was unique among the Mountain's personal rooms in that it had a window, a massive pane that showed a spectacular view of the ocean. The window was hidden from the outside by a false rocky outcropping when it was closed, and a holographic façade when it was open. I'm not sure who in the League had this room before, but it was perfect for a woman who preferred sunlight to staying in a cave.

She then looked at me inquisitively. "In fact, I think it is time that _you_ received something. You have been taking care of this team, of me, non-stop. What do you want?"

"What do I want?" I paused. "I suppose I want millions of dollars, large amounts of highly advanced technologies, a mountain fortress lair, and friendship with the most extraordinary people on the planet."

"…You already have all those things."

"Great! Then I suppose now all that's missing now is a girlfriend," I said as I looked up at the ceiling, hand stroking my chin. "She would have to be beautiful, strong, kind, preferably with gorgeous red hair. But where could I find such a woman?" I looked back down at the naked beauty before me. "Oh hey, here's one. Man, things have really been working out for me lately."

Kori laughed and rolled onto her back, hands above her head as she looked at me with a helpless grin. "Being coy won't stop me from finding out what you want," She shifted a little as she said this, her hips moving to the side slightly.

Amazing how easily she could go from just lying there to lying there for _me_. "Right now the thing I want most is right here."

"Oh?" She replied, becoming coy herself. "Quite the prize you are after. I hope you're up to the challenge."

"I've faced challenges great and small already," I said as I leaned down towards her. "And I refuse to let something as minor as 'lack of biology' to stop me from appreciating you."

Kori smiled warmly for a moment, but then her expression slowly changed to something more somber. "Tell me what it's like."

I paused. "What do you mean?"

"What you feel. What it is like to be you, with the sensations you have."

I hesitated for a moment before I pulled back and started to say, "It's not that-"

I was stopped when Kori's hand darted up and covered my mouth. "Jacob, don't downplay it for my sake," she said, pulling herself up and kneeling before me. "Don't think I haven't noticed that you become perfectly still when you try to hide your distress. I won't stand for you trying to hide this from me." Her hand moved to cradle the side of my face, and her voice lowered to a whisper. "Please Jacob, I want to know."

I stared back at the beautiful face that looked pleadingly back at me, and there was no way I could do anything other than what she asked. My hand reached up to touch hers in kind, gently leaning my head into her touch. "I feel… like I'm missing a limb. Like there's a hole in me in a place I didn't know existed. To be honest, I don't notice it most of the time, but when I know I should be feeling something…"

Kori inched closer. "You feel detached, not as excited as you should be."

I shook my head. "Not quite, I feel emotions as strongly as ever, thankfully. But the physical response to those emotions is missing. My chest doesn't warm when I feel content, I never fall over from uncontrollable laughter… I don't get physically aroused when I look at you, even though my mind knows it should. I expect it even, like how you brace yourself for a heavy fall. But the impact never comes, and part of me just feels a sort of void wanting to be filled." I imagined it felt akin to phantom limb syndrome, except that it was my endocrine system.

"That's horrible."

"That's the thing, it's not all bad either. My gut never clenches in fear, my limbs never shake in stress, I never feel completely overwhelmed. If I'm being honest, it's probably one of the reasons I've been so successful at this superhero thing. I can avoid all of the normal stress of combat that I would experience as a human." A thought occurred to me and I let out a flat laugh. "There's a bitter irony. If I still had my nerves I probably wouldn't have had the nerve to confess my feelings to you."

Her hand slid down to my neck. "Jacob, don't exaggerate," She admonished. "You are not weak of will, certainly not so much that you would be unable to tell me how you feel." Her expression softened. "This… void you feel. Do you fear it will grow with time?"

"No. I'm worried that if I don't get proper senses back, someday I'll stop feeling it. That I won't miss having my old physical responses anymore." My eyes roamed up and down her body. "And I would much rather feel that aching lack when I look at you than nothing at all."

Kori hummed softly. "Yes, I suppose I can understand that. But you will become whole again. I know you will."

I nodded. "Probably. I mean, given the progress I'm made understanding my body, I pretty sure I can just make something myself eventually. I just don't know how long that will take," I sighed and turned away from her, my feet dangling off the bed. "I just… don't know what's going to happen to me, even if I get what I want. I've gotten so used to seeing the world in infrared and ultraviolet that I feel blind if I stop, and I've forgotten what it's like not to have complete control of my body. I have magical numbers dancing in my soul that let me feel something beyond myself. I felt like I'm _more_ than I use to be… but I don't know what I'm going to become."

A pair of arms suddenly wrapped around me from behind, hands coming to rest on my chest. I felt Kori press into my back as she rested her head on my shoulder. "You will become something amazing. Because you won't let yourself be anything else. You haven't lost your humanity yet, and I refuse to believe anything in this world can make you."

I tried to say something, but the mix of her words and the feeling of warmth from her body against mine caused me to completely lose my train of thought. I tried to regain it several times before I gave up and my shoulders slumped. I cast a glance at her. "You know, it's really hard to brood when you do that."

"That is the point." She replied primly.

I grumbled, but my hand reached up to cradle the side of her face. "What did I ever do to deserve you?" I whispered, turning in her embrace so that I could kiss her. We held it for several long moments before we broke apart, and I turned to face her fully.

"Now," I said as my hand traced its way down the front her body, laying the woman back down on the bed. "Back to appreciation…"

And for then, it was enough.

=====A=====

A/N: It's not clear to me exactly when Red Tornado was made, so I'm going with that he was made and introduced to the Society in the early Forties.


	53. 12-4

=====A======

Troia took a few seconds to take my measure before she launched herself at me, flying with her arm cocked back for a fast straight. I stepped to the side the moment she reached me, but Troia immediately adjusted, planting a foot to stop her forward momentum and turning the attack into a hook. I stepped back and knocked the arm aside, but I felt the strength behind the swing. _No hard blocking any of these_ , I thought as she advanced with a series of rapid jabs. _Definitely in the same weight class as Kori and Connor_. Lucky for me, I didn't have to face off against her directly in order to beat her. At least, not according to the rules I set out.

The day had finally come for Troia to run through the test I had made, to see if she qualified to join the team. To be honest, my tests were more for me to see what sort of skills and knowledge the young woman had more than seeing if she was good enough. I had gone through a number iterations of complicated trials I could run her through, but in the end I had decided to keep it simple; a series of questions followed by a sparing match. And the goal of the spar was simple: knock me out of the sparring ring within 3 minutes.

She did have some assistance though. Just as I managed to get away from Troia, I looked up just in time to see Starfire coming down at me in a textbook Kamen Rider dive kick. I was forced to fire my thrusters and launch myself to the side, narrowly avoiding a foot to the sternum. Starfire twisted in the air and flew after me, chasing me around the edge of the arena. She sped up to catch me, but at the last moment I changed direction and shot forward, sliding underneath her as she flew over.

Ok, fighting the two ladies at once would normally be a bit much, even for me. Both of them were stronger than me and had many years of combat training. However, I was the one who had set this scenario up, so I had an advantage set up for me as well.

Troia made to come at me again, but before she could reach me I made a slight gesture and a strong wind slammed into her side. She tried to push through, but the wind twisted and quickly became a small cyclone as tall as she was. She was forced to skip back before it sweep her away.

Even though I had just recently got a big boost to my wind tech, what I was doing now was beyond what I was normally capable of. However, the sparring ring was currently surrounded four pylons, about three feet tall each and topped with glowing rings. They were something I had thrown together as part of my experiments into better effector field emitters. As a first attempt they weren't particularly good on their own, having a very limited range, but with the four of them arranged together like this it gave me a lot of control over the air within the sparring ring.

This may have seemed a bit unfair, but this was supposed to be something of a boss fight. It was also the reason I currently had a rock remix of 'Bloody Tears' playing over the speakers.

I laughed as I swatted away Starfire with a blast of wind. "It is foolish to try and stop me," I said imperiously, my holographic green cloak blowing in the holographic breeze. "There are mere minutes before my Storm Reactors across the globe reach full power, and then the world will be under the control of Doom!"

Troia sighed in exasperation (not for the first time either), casing a sidelong glance at Starfire. "Is he for real?"

The other woman was focusing on me, though. "You will not prevail, villain!" Starfire proclaimed, having fully gotten into it. "The world will never accept your rule, and we shall not fall to a petty tyrant!"

"…oh my god they're both dorks."

With that Troia suddenly surged forward and barreled into me, knocking us both off balance. She tried to capitalize on it by grabbing ahold of me and bearing me to the ground. In response, my body twisted unnaturally fast, breaking her grip with a first rotation and knocking her aside with the spinning kick from the second. We both hit the ground and rolled to our feet, but I was faster and closed the distance before she could react. I threw three jabs in quick succession at her head before ducking low, springing up to deliver a rising uppercut that launched her into the air.

Starfire caught the other woman and steadied her in the air. "Be wary in close combat," she said. "Machina's body allow him to move in unintuitive ways. He will not engage you on your terms."

Starfire was quite familiar with the form I used for sparring by now, but this time I made a few extra modification on top of it. My body was currently 7 feet tall, and less armored than my standard combat form. The reason being that much of my internals were configured for speed and precision. My actuators were supplemented by muscle-like strands, and I had weak but numerous kinetic manipulators all over my frame .In addition, I increased the amount of mass that my processing network usually took up, dedicating it towards processing physical motion. I didn't quite have perfect kinethesis, but it was a step towards it.

The end result was that I wasn't actually strong enough to hurt the ladies, at least with physical strikes. But I could dance around them.

The seconds ticked by as I jumped and twisted in the air, dodging a low dive from Starfire. Troia hung back and watched as Starfire spun back around and flew at me again, no doubt trying to get a better read on how I fought. I sent another twister her way before I refocused on the woman throwing a flying, spinning round house at my neck. "I am far from a mere 'petty tyrant'!" I exclaimed, deflecting the attack with a blast of wind before moving on the offensive, moving in sharp bursts to catch her off guard. "I am the one who stands above all! None deserve to rule as Doom does! And no mere 'hero' is strong enough to stop me!"

Starfire was well used to my erratic movements however, and repelled my assault by skillfully weaving around my attacks in the air. She even managed to get a few counter strikes, the last of which knocking me back from her. Focused as I was though, it was not enough for me to lose track of my surroundings. And so, I fired my thrusters and launched myself up to avoid Troia, who had moved in behind me to take advantage of the situation. Her left hook missed as I turned my motion into a flip before I landed on the other side of her. She grunted, looking back at me. "You are dead set on playing this diabolical villain thing to the hilt, huh? Surprised you haven't dismissed us as 'weak women doing a man's job' yet."

In response I snapped my fingers and a whole new swam of twisters filled the sparring ring. As the pair were forced to dodge, I fell back onto a cushion of air, a hologram of an elaborate throne appearing beneath me as I settled into a sitting position. My head rested against my fist, braced against the armrest. In my other hand a holographic goblet formed. "Doom has a thing for strong and capable women," I said. "Thus the world that Doom rules shall be egalitarian!"

"Yeah, that's one way of putting it," I looked to the side of the sparring ring and spotted our spectators, comprised of the rest of the Team along with Red Tornado and Wonder Woman. In particular, Artemis was looking at me with a small smirk. "All Starfire has to do is smile and you fold like a lawn chair."

"No sassing Doom from the sidelines!" I yelled.

Meanwhile, the two ladies were still keeping their distance. "We are running out of time," Starfire said over the wind. "But I believe I have a way we can prevail."

"We?" Troia shot back, trying to push through the wind to get at me but not quite managing it. "Isn't this my test?"

"Yes, and it is up to you how you want to proceed."

The dark haired young woman looked at Starfire before glancing at the clock. Just under a minute left. "…Fine. Let's do this." She broke off from her attempt and flew to Starfire's position, giving me a defiant glare. "I'm not going to let this drama queen stop me."

I 'crushed' the goblet in my hand, rising from my seat. "So be it, heroes! Have at thee!"

Starfire raised her hands, glowing green with energy. "Follow my lead and mirror what I do!" She said before she fired off a short range starbolt, the ball exploding amid the twisters between us. This opened up enough of a gap in the wind wall for the pair to come at me.

I created another set of twisters to head off the ladies' charge, but as one the two split off in opposite directions, circling around me a high speed. I swiftly thrust my arms out to create a protective cyclone around me, but too late I realized my mistake. Since they were circling in opposite directions, one of them was moving in the same direction as the wind. And sure enough, Starfire burst through the wind wall and came arcing at me.

I rolled with the hit to lessen the impact, but as I turned to face the woman's assault she instead flew away from me. I was confused for a moment before I barely managed to dodge Troia coming in to knock me to the ground.

 _Ah, so that's how they're going to play it_ , I thought as I dodged and parried a few more attempts. _Well, they will have to do more than skirmishing attacks to-_

Suddenly Starfire broke the rhythm, turning back to attack me again moments after she broke away. I managed to juke her in time, but I wasn't able to stop Troia from shoulder checking me. She moved in for a few follow up strikes until I managed to get my footing back and made to counter attack. However, even though I saw her tense and fight against her instinct to stay in, Troia fell back out of my range. Which is of course when Starfire came back in again.

This repeated over and over, the two slowly getting better at working in tandem and keeping me from getting the upper hand. Even as I tried to gain space with wind, the two made sure to never let up. As the seconds ticked down to zero I stumbled back towards the edge of the ring, raising my arms to simply blast the two women away and give myself some room. But before I could, they already closed in on me from both sides, and I hesitated. Starfire had her fist cocked back, her hair and eyes blazing bright. Troia mirrored her, stars and bracers shining silver.

 _Sun and Moon_ , the thought came unbidden, just as their fists impacted my face.

I was sent tumbling backwards head over feet, clear out of the ring and crashing into the back wall. As I crumpled to the ground in a heap, I heard the computer give a chime of victory for the ladies, and Troia saying "Ah crap, is he going to be alright?"

"He's fine," Starfire said. "He's suffered from much harder blows than that."

"Usually at your hands," I muttered as I picked myself up off the ground. I dusted myself off, shifting back to a more normal form as I walked back towards the pair. "Anyway, you did great. Welcome abroad."

"Good work, Troia." Wonder Woman said, approaching us along with the rest of the Team. "I had no doubt that you would succeed."

A self-satisfied smile formed on Troia's face before she looked between me and Starfire. "This wasn't just to test my teamwork, was it?" She asked. "It was to see if I could follow someone else's lead."

I pointed. "Just so. You are very perceptive."

"Yeah, well, I've had a lot of situational awareness training," she glanced at Wonder Woman. "And that included figuring out why you're fighting as well as what's going on."

Typically, Kid Flash jumped in with "Brains to go with the beauty, huh? A great combination."

"You just… can't help it, can you?" Artemis pinched the bridge of her nose before she looked at her newest teammate. "Ignore him. I promise the rest of us are normal."

"Normal as a bunch of superheroes get." Robin remarked. "But don't worry, I can tell you'll fit right in."

"So long as I don't have to give overly dramatic speeches as part of the job…" The young woman muttered, with a pointed look in my direction.

"Don't underestimate style, my dear woman," I said. "If nothing else, it lets people recognize us for the veritable titans of justice that we are."

"Hey," Robin said, pointing at me. "I kinda like that."

"…Of course you would," I muttered. I honestly wasn't thinking when I said that.

There was a sudden beeping sound from the computer and a holographic screen popped up in front of me. Troia looked at it curiously. "What's that?"

"A crime alert," I said as I looked through the feed. "I set up a monitoring system that trawls and aggregates criminal activity news." Still, the computer normally wouldn't be alerting me so directly unless… "Looks like this one is nearby. A bank robbery in Charlestown." I hesitated for a moment before I looked back at her. "You up for a field test?"

* * *

Before we set out in Moya, there was a brief moment of awkwardness as we figured out which of us would be going. The Team now had 9 members, which was a bit much to send to stop an apparently mundane bank robbery. In the end, we settled on myself, Troia, Aqualad, and Robin. It was a fairly balanced squad in terms of power and skillset, so it should have been fine for this particular outing. The rest of the Team stayed back at the Mountain, and Wonder Woman headed back to New York, confident that her protégé could handle herself.

In Moya, it took us very little time to reach our destination, and from the pilot's seat of the bioship's command deck, I steered us over the bank in question. "Alright, looks like the cops got here before we did," I said with a frown, looking out one of the bioships viewports. There were several cop cars parked outside the building, along with a few police officers crouched behind them. "And if they're still out there, that means the bad guys are dug in, and possibly have hostages."

I had hoped that we could just rush in, or maybe just follow them after they left, but it looked like that wasn't possible. Still. Moya was cloaked, so no one had noticed us yet. We could work with that.

Aqualad agreed with my assessment, as he said "Indeed, in would be unwise to barge in without a plan. We need more information."

"Leave it to me," Robin said, getting out of his seat. "I can get in and scope the situation without anyone noticing."

"Sounds like a good chance to test out the Knife Missiles, too." I said, and with a wave of my hand a pair of the aerial drones floated up to just over my shoulder. They were only about a foot long each, narrow triangles with several control surfaces and a patterned grey exterior. I had been waiting for a chance to test my recon drones ever since I finished them, and this was the first opportunity I got.

Robin arched an eyebrow behind his mask. "They seem a little conspicuous for stealth. And the name isn't helping either."

"It's a reference to the 'Culture' novels." The lot of us turned in surprise to Troia, who gave a small start at the attention. "What? It's a well-known book series."

"First of all, you have good taste," I told her before addressing Robin. "And second, I added some stealth features." On command, the drones' optical camo kicked in and the pair disappeared from sight. It wasn't perfect, but they were much more difficult to see now.

The Boy Wonder was suitably impressed. "Nice... Alright, I can work with this."

I linked his arm computer in to the drones' datafeeds before I moved the bioship to the back of the bank. Robin discretely dropped out of the ship into the back alley and expertly cracked the electronic lock on the back door in seconds. I sent one of the drones in after him while the other I sent out on overwatch, just in case.

I brought up a holographic window showing the feed from the drone following Robin, and we got the image of some mundane bank offices and cubicles. It didn't take long for us to spot our target. " _Yep, they have hostages alright,_ " Robin said over the comm, pointing to a bunch of scared looking people on the other side of an office window. The man standing in front of the office door was dressed head to toe in biker leathers, with a helmet covering his head. In his hand he had a bulky pistol of some sort, but I didn't recognize the model. The man's gaze swept back and forth, but he didn't notice anything amiss.

"Robin, keep exploring, we need the whole picture." Aqualad said.

" _Copy that,_ " he replied, and he started to make a full sweep of the building. As he did I built out a wireframe map, placing icons at points of interest. Eventually Robin came to the main lobby. " _Looks like we've got six guys in total, one guarding the hostages and the rest out here,_ " Robin said, the video feeds from the drones backing up his claim. They were all dressed and equipped the same as the first man, crouched behind various bits of cover. They also weren't talking, merely keeping an eye out while sitting on some small duffel bags.

Were they waiting for something? Back up, maybe? "What's the plan?" I asked our leader.

Aqualad looked at the holographic map for a moment before he said "We should make this quick. With only one of them guarding the hostages, Robin can neutralize him swiftly. The rest of us will enter through here and here," he pointed at a pair of windows on either side of the main lobby, "and engage the main group. Between all of us and the element of surprise, we should be able to resolve this swiftly."

"What about the police?" I asked. "There's a big risk of crossfire if one of the bad guys starts firing blindly. I don't want to risk them getting hurt." I paused before I continued. "The front of the building isn't that wide, I should be able to cover the door and windows with shields. I'll also block them from running."

The teen mulled this over before he looked at Troia. "Do you feel able to fight that many men with just the two of us?"

"Please, I've faced double that on my own."

Aqualad nodded. "Very well. Machina, you drop in the front when I give the signal. Troia, with me."

A hole opened up in Moya's floor, and Aqualad jumped down. I expected Troia to follow, but she hesitated, looking at me with an odd expression. I raised an eyebrow, and she said "You're… oddly pragmatic. What happened to style?"

 _Guess I made a bit of a wrong impression with that boss fight bit_ , I thought. Knowing we didn't have much time, I settled on just saying "It's hard to have fun with real fights when you know that if you fuck up, people could die."

Troia's expression softened slightly, and then she followed Aqualad out the hole in the bioship floor.

I moved Moya to the front of the building, getting out of the pilot seat so that I form some mechadendrite limbs from my back. Four in total, each one was tipped with a Psion Shield along with another pair on my arms. I also changed the surface of my body into the optical cloak mesh. No need give away what I was doing till the last moment.

I only had to wait a handful of seconds before everyone was in position. " _Now!_ " Aqaulad commed.

I dropped down through the bottom of the ship, a second later landing on the sidewalk in front of the bank. My extra limbs stretched out, and with a loud snap several panes of blue energy popped into existence. I heard cries of surprise from the police officers behind me at the same time I heard my teammate break in through the windows. I turned back to look, decloaking as I did so. "Sorry for the start, officers. We have this under control."

By the time I looked back, the fight was pretty much over. Let's face it, a couple of mooks against the likes of Aqualad and Troia, who had the element of surprise, stood no chance. A few shots were fired off, but they hit nothing, and seconds later the fight was over. They men were all knocked out and disarmed, a few of them having their helmets knocked off to show several average looking men.

"Lobby is clear!" Aqualad called out.

" _Hostages are safe, they went out the back,_ " Robin called. " _Gotta say Machina, these shock Escrima sticks are real handy._ "

With that out of the way I retracted my shields and walked towards the police, talking to them to keep things smooth and tell them what happened. While we talked I sent the second Knife Missile out of the bank to join the first in keeping watch, just in case these guys really did have backup coming.

Things were going about as well as could be expected, but the whole situation still felt off to me. Why the hell were guys hitting up a bank this size? It wasn't a small bank, but it couldn't have that much money outside of the vault, and it didn't look like they had brought anything to break in to it.

Before I could mull on that too much, I suddenly lost contact with one of my drones. My first thought was that it had been destroyed, but the strange thing was that the other drone still had line of sight with the first one. It had stopped in the air for a moment before turned around and retraced its path. I recognized the behavior as what it was programmed to do it if suddenly lost contact with me, and sure enough a few seconds later the connection was reestablished.

I frowned, finishing my conversation with the officer I had been talking to and stepped away. I sent the drone back out and the same thing happened again. _Is there a jamming signal? But it's not that far away, I should have noticed if there was. And even then the signal should get weaker first, not suddenly cut off completely_. I moved the drone back and forth, trying to find the exact location of the disturbance. And to my surprise, I found that the barrier had a curve. And it was curving towards us.

The drone follow the curve until is spotted something on a rooftop: a high tech antenna, right along the edge of the cut off zone.

"Something wrong," I announced, swiftly walking into the bank. "There's some kind of… radio barrier surrounding the entire block-"

At that moment, a robber that had been slumped against the wall suddenly sat up and swung his arm at me, far faster than a human should have been able to. His sleeve was ripped to shreds as his arm folded out into some kind of high tech cannon that fired a scintillating white beam at me. I was quick enough to move my center of mass out of the way, but the beam clipped my hand and-

I screamed as static ripped through my mind. Pain took me as I fell to the ground, my body not responding for a moment. It started to fade and I awkwardly rolled on the ground, trying to get my feet under me. I raised my blackened hand in front of my face just in time to see it fall apart into dust.

Troia was the closest. She didn't hesitate to close the distance and smash the man's arm into dust, but the rest of the 'robbers' were breaking out of their bonds and moving toward me, their own arms folding out into weapons. My coordination was still shot from whatever that energy did to me, but I still had the shield emitter on my arm. I crouched low and activated it just before the lot of them open fire at me. The shield held, but I felt my 'skin' crawl as that energy washed over it.

" _Team, the guy I put down just got back up!_ " Robin commed.

Aqualad lashed out with his water-bearers, slicing the arms off two off them and cutting into the face of a third, ripping off the skin and revealing the cyberskull beneath. Another one moved to the pile where their handguns had been placed and grabbed one, but rather than shooting it he actually _threw_ the weapon at me. Not taking any chances, I awkwardly threw myself to the side, just in time to avoid the pistol exploding in that same white energy.

My back slammed into the wall and I raised my shield to block another series of energy blast. These... things we almost completely ignoring my teammates in favor of shooting me. Which turned into their downfall, as Troia and Aqualad were making short work of them because of it. Troia grabbed the one that had thrown the grenade-gun and hurled it at another, both of them breaking apart into metal pieces. Aqualad continued 'disarming' his targets, and soon the shots ceased.

The robots must have realized that their plan had failed by that point, because as one they all gave a brief twitch before their heads exploded in a hail of shrapnel. The pile of guns also exploded, but thankfully I was nowhere near that white energy explosion as it went off.

The lobby was filled with the sound of sizzling metal, but other than that things were still. Aqualad turned to me. "Machina! Are you alright?"

"I think so," I said as I got to my feet, focusing on my stump of a hand. The area felt weirdly numb, absent of that physical awareness I had become so used to over the past few months. Trying to reform my hand felt like trying to pick up a penny through oven mitts. The sensation was slowly fading, but I poured magic into the arm to speed up the process. Soon enough I got sensation back, and my hand reformed. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Who were these guys?" Robin asked, suddenly appearing next to one of the mangled frames. He picked up the shattered remains of one of their metallic skulls. "Or more accurately, who made them?"

"Someone who has it out for Machina," Troia said, looking at me. "The moment you walked in the room they all came at you."

"Using a weapon that seemed designed specifically to hurt me." I agreed, looking among the debris. I reached for the most intact android body and used my _Technological Pattern Analysis_ script it. It was… mundane, as far as you could apply the term to an android. There was nothing particularly interesting or exceptional about it. I wouldn't call it poorly made so much as… economical. These things were made to be disposable. The only exception was what that weapon had been, but that had completely destroyed itself along with the head.

It was then I noticed that one of the pistols was somehow still intact, just knocked to the floor. Why hadn't that one exploded with the rest? Maybe one of the one Troia threw had it's failsafe trigger broken?

Either way, I walked over and used the script again on the gun, and found what I was looking for. It was a functioning pistol, but the extra bulk was taken up by a very complex… well, effector, if I had to put a name to it. If I understood it right, the field it emitted would sink into and wrap around metallic structures, kind of like water mixing into sand. Except then the field would then beam energy right into the particulate. The field would have no effect on organic matter, and even normal electronics would only suffer minor damaged given how the larger metal parts would act an energy sinks. But if your target would made entirely of tiny, highly complex computers…

"Nano disassemblers," I muttered. I had given some thought as to how I would fight an entity like myself since the Fog, but I had never seen anything like this. "This plus the androids… I guess Ivo decided he wanted some revenge for his wrecked toy."

"Who's Ivo?" Troia asked.

"Mad scientist, I'll tell you the story later." I stood up. "Right now we need to head back to the Mountain…" I briefly send a signal to our base's computer, and sure enough I got no response back. "Because our signal's being blocked somehow."

"Concerning, but perhaps it was just to prevent you from calling for help." Aqualad suggested.

I gave him a flat look. "When have we ever been that lucky?"

"…Everyone back to the bioship, now!"

* * *

Needless to say, we were back in Moya and heading back to the Mountain at top speed less than a minute later. I gathered up the remains of the androids and their weapons (scanning them for traps and trackers as fast as I could), and threw them in the back, but I had other things to focus on. Like just what was happening to the rest of my team.

The moment we passed the barrier, I immediately received an emergency update from the Mountain. I passed in my admin credentials before I created several holographic screens to display what I was getting, diving into the situation report.

 _Intrusion alert: Two humanoid entities forced entry into the Mountain 4 minutes 32 seconds prior. Moon Pool doors breached, security shields destroyed. Structural damage to vehicle bay. Structural damage to 3 ancillary room and 4 corridors, along with security systems within. Intruders currently engaged by defenses in junction 2-13. Standard radio communications blocked, primary landline connection non-functional, secondary landline connection operational._

 _Good thing I made so many fail safes_ , I thought as I tried tapping into the cameras in the relevant room. The feed I got back was less than helpful, the image filled with a mess of fire and steam whipping about at high speed. I tapped into the internal comm system and said "Machina to base, can you hear me? Respond."

The was a moment of silence before Starfire's voice replied " _Machina! We are under attack by a pair of androids! The Mountain's defenses have slowed them down, but they're currently in combat with Red Tornado. Return immediately!_ "

"We're already on our way," I said. "The bank robbers were androids too. They specifically tried to kill me. I guessing that this is Ivo trying to get revenge."

" _Ivo?_ " Starfire sounded confused. " _But why would Ivo make androids that resemble Red Tornado?_ "

"What? What are you-" At that moment the video feed cleared up as the fire and steam were blown out of the way to reveal the room. Much of it was still on fire, but at one end of the circular chamber I saw Red Tornado pulling back, along with Starfire and Superboy. On the other side I saw the two intruding androids, and the similarities to Red Tornado were unmistakable. They had the same red/ yellow color scheme, and even the external chassis has a similar minimalist aesthetic. One was female shaped and wreathed in a corona of flame, whereas her masculine companion was directing as torrent of water at my teammates.

This… doesn't make sense. Why would Ivo build robots that looked like they were the same model line as Red Tornado? I vaguely recalled that Ivo worked as Morrow's apprentice for a time, so I guess it was possible the man could build something like them, but…

As I mulled this over, something caught my attention on one of the other feeds. Namely the ones showing the damage that had been done by the androids before they reached their current spot. I saw the damage to the vehicle bay and the security systems, but the one that got my attention was the common room. The TV had been smashed, and the couch was burnt to cinders.

Something about that caused me to feel that phantom ache in my chest, my eyes narrowing as I looked at the ruined space where I spent time with my friends.

They were wrecking my house.

 _They were violating my home._

Blue lines traced themselves over me as I accessed the Mountain's systems, and I poured my will, outrage into anything I could reach as I roared over the PA "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

On the video feed, the two android froze. They then looked at each other for several seconds… before they both turned and rocketed down the hallway in the direction they had come from. My team tried to pursue, but both androids released powerful blasts of their respective elements behind them, creating a shockwave in the corridor that knocked my team back.

Somewhat stunned, I watched the two hustled back to the vehicle bay and dived into the water, their wake showing them heading straight out of the Mountain and out of sight. "…I did not expect that to work."

=====A=====


	54. 12-5

=====A=====

I was alone in the tech lab, my attention split between the damage report that the Mountain was feeding me, and the scans of the android bodies that had attacked us at the bank. The rest of the Team had regrouped before splitting up to sweep the Mountain's corridors, making sure that there were no surprises left by our visitors. I'd be making my own rounds in the vents as soon as I could (just in case they dropped some drones off when I wasn't looking), but for the moment I needed to focus on the bigger picture.

All told, the damage to the base wasn't too bad. Or, at least it was localized to a small part of it. The vehicle bay had taken the worst of it, as there had been a short fight between the androids and Conner and Rommie. The two happened to be in the bay when the intruders arrived, and while they put up a good fight, they retreated once they realized they were fighting a very powerful hydrokinetic in space with a giant pool. After that the Mountain's defenses hemmed the two android in and kept them as contained as possible, but the two brute forced their way deeper in. And the structural and system damage to those spots was severe.

Still, none of the Mountain's core systems were damaged, and in the brief talk I had with Batman he told me that he would get Green Lantern to do the bulk of the repairs. I already had a few things in mind that I would like to change if we were going to be remodeling.

As for the android bits, I had some of them inside a spectral analysis device, and the rest stored in a secure material locker (including the surviving pistol). 'Secure' in this context meant a reinforced steel and tungsten box embedded in the Mountain's stone, covered by a hard shield. It may have been a bit excessive, but I wasn't declaring these things safe until I fully had the chance to take them apart. I suppose it was a risk bringing them here in the first place, but I checked the electronics for any traps or surprises I could find. And it wasn't like they didn't know where we were.

The holographic display on the spectrograph flashed green, and my mouth pressed thin, "Just as I thought…" I muttered.

" _Team, we have arrived. Assemble in the main hall._ " Batman's voice echoed over the intercom.

I finished up my scans and stored the bits with the rest before I left the lab, putting some hustle into my stride. We had called the League as soon as we managed to get communications back online, and naturally Batman insisted coming over as soon as possible to get the details. I mean, Red Tornado did give him a summary, but I guess he wanted to get the news directly from us.

Also, once we had communications again, I made sure to contact Serling and tell her about what happened. Those nano disassemblers may have been made for me, but considering how much her own nanomachines were modeled after my own, they could prove just as lethal to her. Since almost all of her blood had been replaced by the stuff, having it suddenly rendered non-functional would bad for her health. I didn't think she was in danger, but if nothing else it would be good to have another mind on figuring out how to counter this new weapon.

I ended up arriving last, and I caught the tail end of what Kid Flash was saying. "…still can't believe you don't know who those two were! They look just like you!"

"I am aware, Kid Flash." Red Tornado replied. "However, I have never seen them before. I do not know who or what they are."

As I walked into the room I was a little surprised to find that not only Batman but Wonder Woman was waiting with the rest of the team. I supposed she was looking out for her sister, things did escalate rather quickly. Then again, she should probably just have assumed that would happen on any outing the team went on by this point. Regardless the woman asked "Is it possible that Morrow made more androids?" She asked. "Perhaps he made several and chose to only use you?"

"Perhaps," Red Tornado agreed. "But if so, I do not know where they have been all these years."

I stepped up beside Troia, who was current in a staring contest with Rommie. The two didn't quite seem to know what to make of each other. She noticed my arrival and asked "What is the ball and why is it staring at me?"

[The star-touched one reminds me of a night long passed. I believe I have seen those constellations before.]

Before I could answer, Batman said loudly "Now that we're all here, let's go through the events one last time." He turned to Aqualad. "Aqualad, what happened at the bank?"

Our second in command then recounted what happened on our excursion, and when he was done we switched over to Starfire saying what happened here at the Mountain. I already knew most of this. We had debriefed each other as soon as we regrouped, and I made a point of studying the security footage. I was particularly interested in just how the androids managed to get through all the defenses I had installed, and it turned out the answer was a mix of cleverness and sheer brute force. For instance, the pair had gained entry to the Mountain via the moon pool, which was protected by a steel door and energy shield. When they found that they couldn't breach the latter, the water controlling android simply _drilled_ through the side of the mountain to get in.

The amount of power and control to do that with water was massive. Given that, it was little wonder that they had managed to make it as far in as they did. Still, it gave the team left at the Mountain plenty of warning before the Androids breached the interior. What happened next was a slow slog as the pair blasted everything around them with so much force that it became impossible to get near them. Most of the interior defenses (in the form of arc generators and freeze cannons) were slagged or pulverized before the intruders could enter optimal range. This was an oversight I was planning on fixing.

Starfire started to wrap up her debrief. "… and then Machina told them to 'Get out of his house'. They then left."

The various superheroes turned to look at me, and I shrugged. "To be honest, I was as surprised as you are."

Batman regarded me levelly. "Did you use your abilities to make them leave?"

"I…" I hesitated before I stated again. "I'm not sure. I know I was using it at the time, but I didn't specifically try to force their actions." I looked at Red Tornado. "I should ask, when I told the androids to get lost, did you… feel anything?"

Red Tornado stared at me for a long moment, and I started to wonder if I had asked a stupid question. However, her eventually replied "…Yes. I am not sure how to describe what it was I… felt. If I had to put a word to it, I felt your anger."

 _I guess that was what I was going for at the time_ , I thought. I'm not sure I liked the idea of having mind control abilities. Yes, I know that was stupid considering the androids were attacking my home, but it just didn't sit right with me.

Robin got us back on point. "That's great and all, but we need to focus on why they came here, not why they left. These guys came after _us_. Not only did they know our base was here, but those androids at the bank were sent to draw us out. To draw Machina out."

"I have a lead on that." I said, and with a gesture a holographic blueprint of one of the robber android appeared in front of me. "I analyzed the remains of the androids that attacked me, trying to get a trace on the components. Turns out these things are custom made, right down to the transistors. Ring any bells?"

Robin perk up. "Like Mister Twister."

I nodded. "I ran some comparisons between them and found several integrated circuit components to be identical, along with the same metal composition. Whoever made Mister Twister made these guys."

"Does that mean we can track him down?" Kid Flash asked.

"Not sure… the metals and minerals used aren't particularly unique. Or at least our database doesn't recognize them as such. Best I can tell is that the metals come from somewhere in North America. I'll have to do more research."

"Alright, but there can't be that many people who can build androids that can match Red Tornado." Robin pointed out.

I nodded, a slight frown forming. "Well, going by people we know, our two main culprits would be Ivo and T. O. Morrow." I looked at Red Tornado. "What ever happened to Morrow anyway?"

"He disappeared once he realized that I had no intention of destroying the Justice Society." The android replied. "He had monitoring systems placed within me, so that by the time I lead the Society to his lab, the doctor was already gone. He has not been seen since."

"70 years is a long time to lay low," The lot of us turned to look at Troia, her hand on her chin. "To be honest, for that much time to have passed, I'm kind of surprised how… low key this was. I would have expected some kind of doomsday weapon from a mad scientist that tried to take out the Justice Society."

Wonder Woman's brow furrowed. "Regardless, Morrow may be intent on finishing the job, however late. I need to inform Jay and Alan as soon as possible."

Batman nodded. "We'll be sure to offer protection if they need it. However, there is also the matter of Machina being targeted. With a weapon specifically designed to kill him."

"Honestly, I think it might just be that he saw me as a threat," I said. "My fight with Amazo was in the news, and if this is Morrow, he would have taken notice of me beating his apprentice's robot. And if he somehow knew I could eat machines… then it would explain why the androids ran the moment they learned I was on my way back."

Starfire hummed in agreement. "It is plausible. Regardless of who is responsible, it's clear they not only have great proficiency in artificial life but have interest with… you. There were two primary targets, Red Tornado and Machina. One to capture, and one to kill."

"Not disagreeing, but how do we know they meant to capture Red Tornado?" I asked.

The android himself answered "Aside from how they specifically avoided attacking me whenever possible, there was a moment when the water android approached within reach and tried to grab me. In that moment there was a strong electrical surge that extended from its hand, one that managed to compromise several of my systems. The frequency and modulation of the burst was such that it was trying to download data directly onto my hardware."

"Like a virus? How did you fight it off?"

"I… am not sure. I believe that, due to the increased electrical shielding I've added to my chassis, I only received a partial signal, and thus my automated systems were able to repair the damage."

"Whatever the reason, I'm glad you're still with us," Miss Martian said with a smile. "This place wouldn't be the same without you." Her smile then faded. "But, what's to stop them from trying again?"

I looked around the cavernous room. "Well, I'm going to be reinforcing the hell out of this place and hunting down any information on these guys on any database I can get my hands on. But, I don't know if that's going to be enough. We need to know what they're up to right now."

Before I could continue, Batman then said "The fact that Red Tornado was targeted makes this a League responsibility. We will investigate this matter."

"Yeah, well the fact that _Machina_ was targeted makes this the Team's responsibility!" Superboy shot back. "We can't just do nothing if someone comes after one of our own! I say we find them and hit 'em hard!"

Batman fixed the boy with a glare. "You will not run off on you own. Any action taken must be approved by me first. If you're so eager to do something, I have an assignment-"

"No!"

Everyone turned to see Starfire move up to Batman, staring him down with a fierce glare. "I will not let you send us on unrelated tasks while someone is out there willing to assassinate one of my team! We will handle this threat ourselves whether you want us to or not!"

That… actually seemed to stun the man for a moment. He managed to recompose himself and replied "This is not up for debate. Missions are chosen for you so that you don't get into too much danger-"

"Like Bialya?" I said as I stepped up behind my leader. "Louisiana? Santa Prisca? You couldn't have predicted how those went down, but at this point it's becoming a trend. The danger is coming to _us_ now."

"And not letting us do anything about it is going to make it worse when it finds us," Artemis stepped forward. "Face it, doesn't matter what you want, we're doing what it takes to beat these guys."

Batman scowled at all of us, but we looked just as fiercely back at him. The air was thick with tension… which broke when a soft chuckle came from behind us. "Man, you guys really don't mess around, huh?" Troia strolled forward to join us. "And here I thought this was a team of sidekicks," she planted her hands on her hips and gave Batman a smirk. "Looks like I'm joining a team of heroes instead."

Batman's entire body was tense, and I could almost see his mind at work. Would he relent, or would he make good on his promise and dissolve the Team right then, for all the good it would do? He finally came to a decision and opened his mouth-

Wonder Woman's hand fell on his shoulder. "Perhaps we can make this a joint venture then?" She suggested as all eyes turned to her. "Both the League and the Team working together. After all, something like a direct attack on our members should be taken that seriously."

I could see the silent conversation that the two senior superheroes had, even if I didn't fully understand it. A few small motions and changing facial features was all it took, and a few seconds later Batman turned back to us. "This will be discussed with the rest of the League. Until then… gather information as you see fit." And without another word, he turned and walked to the Zeta Tubes. He clearly wasn't happy about this, but it seemed like 'relent' had won out for now.

I shared a look of solidarity with the rest of my team. I think I heard Wonder Woman mutter 'Just like the last time…' under her breath, but Starfire was already giving orders. "Batman is right that we cannot be ignorant of someone who can create androids powerful enough to damage our home. Machina, work with Red Tornado to find out anything you can about Ivo and Dr. Morrow. Robin, you will look into other possible culprits, we cannot assume we know who it was just yet. I will work with the Justice League to make sure all information is-"

"Wait." Red Tornado said, and everyone turned to look at him. Even Batman stopped and turned to look back at the android. Red Tornado hesitated, and then looked to Kaldur of all people. "Given the circumstances, I believe it would be in the best interest of all if certain information was shared."

Aqualad grimaced. "Do you think that is wise? Why the sudden change in opinion?"

"Wait, what?" Robin said, perking up in confusion. "What are we talking about?"

Red Tornado ignored him, continuing to address Aqualad. "Circumstances have changes. Now that we have been attacked and have discussed certain parties… I fear the consequences may be dire if we do not address the matter immediately, and with everyone present."

"…Very well." Aqualad said awkwardly, before turning to the group at large. "We may have a mole on our team."

 _And we just had a great team building moment, too_ , I thought bleakly as there were a number of suitably dramatic gasps. "Explain." Batman said as he walked back towards us.

"When I went to Rhelasia to provide assistance to Red Arrow, we fought several assassins from the League of Shadows, Sensei included. During my fight, Sensei made reference to our missions in Louisiana and Bialya. He hinted that they were getting information from an inside source."

"…and you actually believed him?" I asked.

Aqualad shifted his gaze a little. "Not completely, but I couldn't discount it either. The fact that our base has been assaulted does lend credence to this."

I shook my head. "I don't think so. Whether or not the person behind this assault knew at the time, our fight with Mister Twister showed them we were in the area. And the Mountain has been an open secret ever since four years ago. Besides which, the most likely candidates are still Ivo or Morrow, neither of whom have any connections to the Shadows last I checked."

"Most likely," Red Tornado interjected. "But the perpetrator of the attack could have gotten their information from the Shadows. And considering how little we know about the current whereabouts and motives of Ivo and Morrow, we can't discount that they have joined the Shadows recently."

"Even ignoring recent events, I was trying to discretely find out if there was any truth to the claim," Aqualad said. "I wasn't certain the mole was even real, so I didn't want to worry the Team. I informed Red Tornado about this yesterday, but he suggested that the Team should take care of its own issues."

Batman looked at the android. "Is this true?"

Red Tornado nodded. "At the time, the matter seemed small enough that I felt Aqualad could manage it on his own. However, if the Team does have a mole working for whoever staged this attack, they would be aware that we suspect them the moment said mole gets in contact with them. As such, I felt it best to bring up this matter now. "

Batman frowned ever so slightly. "For future reference, potential security risks should always be brought to my attention. Whether or not the Team should handle it on their own."

"Why?" Robin asked, folding his arms across his chest. "So you can look over our shoulder the whole time?"

I turned to face the boy. "Probably so he can check for leaks on his end. Also… a mole really isn't something we can assume a team of inexperienced operatives to handle in a swift and effective manner. The amount of damage any one of us could do in the meantime would be massive."

"So what, you think we should all be under surveillance now?!" he shot back.

"No." I said simply. "Like I said, I don't believe that anyone our team is a mole. If there is an information leak and the bad guys aren't just sharing info, I would guess that one of our networks or systems have been compromised." I turned to the rest of the team, planting my hands on my hips. "Alright, which one of you set your password to 'password'?"

My attempt at levity was unappreciated though, as I was meat with a bunch of flat stares. I sighed. "Ok, let me just ask this right now: are we seriously entertaining the idea that one of us might be a traitor?" No one answered, but I could see the uneasy expressions on a few of my teammates. I didn't think any of them _really_ believed it, but I knew how crippling that little paranoid voice of 'but what if?' could be. "Alright then." I walked over to Wonder Woman, stopping just short of her and holding my arms had sides. "Wonder Woman, if you would be so kind?"

She looked at me evenly, and then looked between myself and the team. "Are you sure?"

"We need trust for a team to work," I said with a nod. "And that's not going to happen if we have niggling doubts about our loyalties."

"Arguably, magically compelling you to tell the truth is not a sign of trust," she said, but still unhooked the Lasso from her belt. With a toss, she threw it around my shoulders, and as it tightened the rope glowed gold.

"I'm lost, what's going on here?" Kid Flash asked.

"That is the Lasso of Truth," Troia explain. "Anyone bound by it is compelled to speak the truth, both in letter and in spirit. So, no fancy wordplay will save you."

Artemis perked up in alarm. "Wait, no one was accusing _you_ of being the mole. Why are you doing this?"

I shrugged. "Well, I was going to say we should all do this," As I talked, I noticed that I could feel the magic of the lasso with my own, similar to what I felt when Mera had used her magic on me. And just like then, my technomancy found very little to latch on to. I supposed I could try to make more of an effort, but that seemed like bad form at the moment. "I'm going first in front of all of you to show that I willing to go through it as well."

"Oh. I-" Artemis stopped and started again. "I don't think I'm really comfortable with that."

 _Oh, I didn't think of that_. Artemis had always been a bit reserved, so of course putting her through a lie detector in front of other people would make her uncomfortable. Fortunately, Wonder Woman spoke up "Don't worry, I'll keep my questions brief and on point. If you're uncomfortable doing it around others, we can do it in private instead."

Artemis didn't answer immediately, so Wonder Woman returned her attention to me and her voice took on an authoritative tone. "Machina, have you been giving information to the League of Shadows or any other individuals about the Team."

"No."

"Have you done anything to compromise the Team or its missions?"

"No."

"Why don't you think any member of you team is compromised?"

I tilted my head as I replied "Because after everything I've been through with them… I just can't believe they would be anything other than heroes." I gave Wonder Woman a look that tried to convey how risky a question that was. _What if I had said 'because they never went evil in the comics'?_

However, the woman just gave me a knowing smile and lifted the lasso off me. "I think that is satisfactory." She turned to the rest of the Team. "Now, is anyone else willing to-"

Naturally, Starfire immediately stepped up. "I will."

I moved to the side and let Starfire get lassoed. As the questions began, I leaned towards Troia and said "Hell of a first day, huh?"

She looked sidelong at me. "Starts with a sparring match, turns into an assassination attempt by killer androids? Yeah, I wasn't expecting that."

"You sure you want to stick around?"

"Are you kidding?" She turned her head to me and flashed a brilliant grin. "It just reminded me how exciting how all this can be."

* * *

In the end, everyone but Artemis got questioned in front of the whole group, the latter of which being taken off into a side room. Everyone was cleared, as I expected. I didn't waste time, instead getting back to securing and fixing up the Mountain. Well, mostly securing the vents. I knew it was incredibly unlikely I'd find anything in there, but now was not the time to leave anything to chance.

Just as I was finishing up though, I did hear something on the edge of my hearing. It was… someone calling my name? I crawled through several junctions before I found the source of the sound. "Artemis?"

I was behind her when I said this, so the girl gave a small scream and spun around. Well, more like flopped around considering she had to crawl through the space. "Jesus Christ, don't scare me like that!" she yelled. "Especially not looking like that!"

My xenomorph form made it easy to move through vent, but I could see how it would unsettle her. I detached myself from the vent roof and shifted into my humanoid form, crouching on the balls of my feet. "Well, you wouldn't have gotten that scare if you had just called me on comms like a normal person. Why did you come crawling into the vents?"

She settled into a sitting position with a huff. "I wanted to talk in person. Besides, it was pointed out that everything in this place in recorded." She paused before she awkwardly continued. "Thanks for removing my face from all the security footage by the way. I… didn't know you were doing that."

"No problem. So, what's up?"

"Why didn't you wait around? For Wonder Woman to confirm I wasn't a mole."

Odd question. I shrugged, careful of the confined space. "I had a lot to take care of. And I didn't think there was anything I needed to hear. Why, was I wrong?"

"No, no," She waved me off. Artemis hesitated before she said "When you said that stuff about thinking we were heroes… you included me right?"

I stared at her for a long moment before I sat on the ground opposite Artemis, fixing the girl with a look. "I'm sensing some self-esteem issues."

She rolled her eyes. "That's not… It's not that. I'm just wondering what it is you see in me. The rest Team… ok, M'gann is nice and Kori thinks the best of everyone, but you seem like a regular guy, and you believe in me. I'm just not sure why."

I was silent as I tried to figure out just what the deal was with the girl who was looking at me expectantly. Eventfully I said "I've never been that great at reading people." She gave me a confused look, but I held up a hand so that I could continue. "It's gotten easier since I've gotten my new senses, but I have a habit of taking people at their word. And beyond that, what they do afterward. And everything we've been through, all the missions and every time we've just hung out here, tells me that you're someone I can rely on."

"So, maybe you are a bad guy. Maybe you somehow bypassed the lasso and are such a spectacular actor you've let none of your real intent through. And then we'll find ourselves with me at your mercy and you mocking me for ever trusting you." I put a hand on her shoulder. "But I'm not going to put much stock in paranoia or what-ifs. Until you give me a reason to think otherwise, you're a hero in my eyes."

She said nothing, a number of emotions flickering across her face before she looked down at the floor. I waited for a minute, but when she still didn't say anything, I started to ask if she was alright.

She beat me to it. "Sportsmaster is my father."

My mouth clicked shut. Without looking up she continued "That's the thing I've been keeping from the rest of the Team. I was raised, I was trained, by a killer." She finally tilted her head up and returned my gaze. "So, that's it. That's my secret."

Ah. That… explained why she had been so reluctant to tell anyone about herself. To tell me. I leaned back as I tried to think of what to say. Eventually I settled on "I see. I… I'm sorry I put your father in jail."

She blinked. "What? No, that's not what you're supposed to- wait, you put him in jail?!" she asked incredulously.

"Err, yeah. It was out first official mission. I happened to run into him."

"…and you actually beat him?" The tone of incredulity had not left.

I shrugged. "He underestimated me and I overpowered him."

Artemis calmed down a little. "That… oh."

"Yeah… so, are we good?"

"Yeah, we're- no wait!" She exclaimed. "That's not what you're supposed to focus on!"

"…What else is there?"

"The fact that I was raised by an amoral mercenary! Doesn't that bother you?! Aren't you worried that I might turn out like him?!"

I frowned and folded my arms across my chest. "Young lady that is _not_ how genetics work and you know it!"

"Damn it you know what I mean!" She yelled back, before she lost some of her fluster. "You… really don't care?"

I shrugged. "Have you personally done any heinous crimes before you joined the team?"

"No…"

"Then do you really need me to give my whole trust spiel again? You're not your parents, Artemis. You're already, like, a million times better than he'll ever be."

"…Thanks." She mumbled.

I smiled. "Glade to be of help. Now, let's get out of these damn vents. It's hell for your posture." The two of us got up and made our way to the nearest exit vent. As we walked/crawled though, a thought occurred to me. "Wait, I remember reading in Sportmaster's file that he was Cheshire's father."

She winced a little. "Yeah… she's my sister."

"Ah…" I shifted a little. "I'm sorry I put your sister in jail."

"Oh my god please stop."

=====A=====

A/N: I figured Artemis would have time at some point to browse the Mountain's database and find out about Cheshire, especially after Jacob's run in with her. Also, Batman did some editing of said database to remove Sportsmaster's connection to Huntress just before Artemis joined the team.


	55. Interlude 5

=====A=====

It was night by the time that everything at the Mountain had wrapped up, with plans made and orders given. As such, by the time Diana and Donna found themselves hovering over the New Jersey suburbs, the land beneath them was dark and dotted with lights. "You really didn't have to fly me home," The young woman said as she turned to her sister.

"No but I wanted to," Diana smirked. "Besides, you have school tomorrow."

Donna groaned. "Oh gods, with everything that happened the last few hours I actually forgot. I don't suppose you could give me a superhero's note, could you? It's like a doctor's note, except it excuses me for having to deal with killer androids."

"Unfortunately, American schools do not accept such notes. I checked." Diana said, and Donna groaned a little louder. Diana place a hand on her hip. "You can't complain too much. You have already made your commitment to school. If you don't think that you can handle both it and the Team-"

"No, no I'll make it work." Donna insisted. "If my teammates can manage school and missions, I'm sure I can too."

"Very well. Though I am still a little uncertain why you chose now to split your focus between the ordinary and extraordinary. You were content before to focus on one or the other."

Donna stared up at the starry night sky. "I just don't want to miss out on something important. Everything seemed calm enough for the past few months, I thought I could focus on being normal for a bit. And I liked it, I really did." She gave a soft laugh. "But it's just so dull sometimes. And then I see you on the news with-" she cut herself off, her blush barely visible in the dark.

Diana understood the young woman's yearning; the amazon had felt it herself in the years before Steve crashed onto Themyscira. It didn't help that Donna had always felt somewhat out of place. It was luck that Diana had run across her five years ago, then an adolescent bystander watching as Diana did battle with Cheetah. A tree had been damaged during the fight, and the trunk snapped before toppling toward a crowd of people. That was until, much to Diana's and even Donna's surprise, Donna flew up and caught the falling trunk effortlessly.

The obvious answer was that Donna was just a metahuman who had awakened to her abilities, but something about Donna made Diana feel a sort of kinship she never knew until that moment. She took Donna back to Paradise Island, and sure enough they discovered that Donna's powers were similar to her own, a blessing from the divine. And yet no god came forward to claim responsibly. That combined with the girl's hazy memory of her youth before foster care meant she was a mystery.

As Diana watched her sister look back up at the stars, she wished there was more she could do for her in that regard. She had asked Jacob what he knew about Donna Troy's origins… and the answer he gave was less than helpful. According to the dimensionally displaced man, the authors of their stories had made so many conflicting origins for her over the years that eventually they made it so some cosmic entity was constantly altering her past. Or something like that, he wasn't personally familiar with the details. All Diana knew was that if she ever met this 'Dark Angel', there would be some very pointed questions.

In any case, the Amazons took her in, and Donna spent several years on Themyscira. But somewhat recently she had been feeling restless, wanting to go back to Man's World. And so Diana had found her a small home for rent in the New Jersey suburbs and enrolled her in the local high school. And Donna seemed to be content, but again that seemed temporary.

Back in the present, Diana focused on the last part of her sister's statement. "You know I wasn't trying to 'replace' you with Starfire. I just wanted to give her a little guidance. I never brought it up to you because I didn't think you'd be interested."

"Well I know that _now_ ," Donna rolled her eyes. "I still wish I didn't have to find out about it through the news."

In hindsight, Diana had to concede the point. "And you're fine with Starfire? Being your leader on the team?" She asked.

Donna actually laughed. "I thought I might butt heads with her, but it's really easy to understand the kind of person she is after talking to her for a bit. She's the kind of girl who wears her heart on her sleeve and cares a lot about those around her. I think we'll get along fine."

 _One less thing to worry about_. "I know I asked you before, but how do you feel about the rest of the Team now?"

Donna thought for a moment. "I like them. They weren't what I was expecting, but they have a real drive in them. I haven't seen too much, but they seem to work together pretty well. I don't quite understand the team dynamic though…"

"What do you mean?"

Donna hesitate for a moment before asked "Which one is the leader, again?"

Diana arched an eyebrow at her sister, wondering if she had gone hard of hearing. "Starfire, with Aqualad as the second in command. I just said as much."

"Yes, but…" Donna trailed of as she tried to find the words. Eventually she just said "What's the deal with Machina then?"

Somewhat bemused, Diana replied "Oh? What do you mean?"

"I mean I don't _get_ the guy. Sometimes he's quiet, other times he's a goofy dork, and yet when he talks seriously the rest of the team shuts up and listens to him. What exactly is he on the Team?"

Diana hummed. "You'll have to ask him if you want to be sure, but you should know that he originally joined the team in a support role. He only gained his powers a few months ago, and before that he was a perfectly normal man."

"Could have fooled me," Donna mutter. "Normal people don't shake off nearly dying like he did today."

"He's grown a lot since then. And while he has graduated to being a full member, he's taken the responsibility of supporting the team seriously. He supplies and maintains most of the Team's equipment, and from what I have heard has helped a few of his team members on more… personal issues. Starfire is team leader, but I would not be surprised if they consider him the team's manager."

Donna was silent for a long moment before she said "I thought Batman was team manager," she stopped and snorted. "Then again, it didn't seem the rest of the team appreciated his 'management'."

Diana frowned. "The missions Batman assigned the team were important, but there has been some debate as to if proper support was given."

"Well, if nothing else," Donna said, a confidant smile forming. "I have the feeling that he'll make sure I won't miss anything interesting."

* * *

In the depths of interstellar space, two points of emerald light streaked between the stars, unseen due to their super-luminal speed. The pair shot towards a binary star system, slowing down slightly as they entered the stellar plane. There was a brief pause before they adjusted course and started moving towards one of the planets deeper in the system.

Once again, John Stewart checked the telemetry readouts his ring was giving him. "There's no doubt, this is definitely the right place."

Lantern Katma Tui flew beside him, and she eye him with a skeptical look. "Assuming that Corphan was telling the truth."

"Don't worry, he may be an opportunistic black-marketer, but he knows better than to lie to a Lantern. Besides, the facts line up. This system is both close to common interstellar routes, and has massive gravity eddies. If any ships find themselves broken or dead in the black near here, the system would pull them in." Ostensibly, it was a scavenger's goldmine, but the gravitational flux combined with the high radiation emitted by the twin suns made actually going there a dangerous prospect (their Rings could handle it, though it was a bit draining on their charge). As such most people didn't even consider it; the system only had a serial number on most star charts.

Corphan however managed to get his hands on an old Orvian sun-skimmer several years back, a freight ship made for harvesting solar wind straight from a sun's corona. He saw his opportunity, and since then had made a comfortable living for himself selling prime scrap on the black market. The man had been reluctant to tell them all this of course, but John knew how to be persuasive to his sort.

It didn't hurt that they weren't looking to shut him down. They just needed some conformation that he was the one who had savaged a particular item from the system. An item which Corphan said he had found in the ruins of a highly advanced ship he had never been able to place.

A silence settled between the two as they approached the planet Corphan has said he found the 'trinket' on, but it wasn't a comfortable one. Eventually, John looked toward Kat. "Something wrong?"

"…Weren't you supposed to be back on Earth by now?"

John looked at his companion, a small smirk crossing his face. "I asked Hal to give me a little extra time. Why, you want to be rid of me so soon?"

Kat rolled her eyes, but her expression softened a little. "You know that's not what I meant. And the fact that you didn't _tell_ the Guardian's about this little side trip means you know you shouldn't be doing this."

John's frowned. "You can't tell me you think the Guardian's response to Hal asking about those nanites wasn't strange."

"It wasn't that strange, considering the information was restricted." She countered. "There could be a good reason they're not sharing what they know about those things."

"Maybe, but I'd expect them to at least _do_ something about it when tey learned about Machina. Instead… nothing. They haven't tried to contact him or even have us bring him in. They're just ignoring him." Or at least, that's what it looked like, but John had his doubts.

"And your response to something that has the Guardians acting secretive is to go poking around where they don't want you?" Kat snorted, her tone reminding him of when she had been his instructor. "Speaking of this 'something', when you spoke to Machina you told him that it could have been a number of sources, but you seem to have one in particular in mind."

John didn't look at her. "It makes sense. You've seen what the man looks like, and you know the Guardians have a bit of a sore spot in regards to them. And given Corphan's description of the ship he found… well, there aren't many factions with 'chitinous' spaceships."

"But why the secrecy then?" Kat insisted. "They've never had trouble talking about the Reach before. And we still have Lanterns whose job it is to make sure that they're keeping to the treaty. If this friend of yours really did stumble onto some old Reach technology, they'd be much more interested in him than they seem to be."

John's frown deepened. "I don't know… something doesn't feel right about all this. I need to check this out myself, and quietly." He glance over at her, a small grin his face. "Stealth and guile, right?"

"That is _my_ motto, John Stewart. And why I'm here with you." She moved so that she was flying underneath him, and poked him in the chest with the other hand on her hip. "You'd be helpless on this sort of mission without me."

John couldn't help his grin growing wider, mirroring the one Kat had.

The planet they were after then came into view, a dull brown rock that most spacefarers wouldn't give a second thought to. It was much larger than Earth, but devoid of atmosphere and constantly pelted by asteroids and space debris. Due to the specific orbits and gravity wells of the other stellar bodies in the system, a large amount of interstellar debris that found its way into the system would eventually end up on the planet.

The pair settled into low orbit, and Kat said "Where do we even start? You can't seriously expect us to search the whole planet."

"Corphan said he and his team investigated a site in the northern hemisphere. Right about… there." He pointed to a spot on the landmass below them.

Kat opened a magnification window in front of her, and paused. "Did he mention anything about a massive crater?"

John's brow furrowed. "No…" The two then flew down to the surface, and his frown deepened. The crater was quite large, nearly a kilometer in diameter and a quarter that deep. The entire space was filled with loose rocks and dirt, and not a single hint of any crashed space ship in sight. "Are you sure you got the coordinates right?"

"Yes…" John held out his ring and scanned the area. "It looks like a meteor crashed into the site recently, about a month ago if these scans are correct. But it's all just rock. I'm not detecting any metals or artificial components. Even something that left a crater this large should have left some remains a power ring could detect."

John focused his scans deeper down, looking for anything that might give him a clue to what happened. _Did some other scavengers manage to come here and take the hollowed out hull before the meteor hit?_ He wondered. That ship wasn't small though, about 20 meters long by Corphan's measurements. There should be some trace of it there, whether it was cut up or dragged away wholesale-

His scans came back with something, if not what he expected. "There's an oddly shaped chamber beneath us." John then created a drill construct and made a large hole at the base of the crater, drilling down for a few dozen meters. And soon enough, the drill breached an open chamber. It was only a few meters across and it looked like part of it had collapsed some time ago, but a small section on the other side was smooth and untouched.

A quick scan of the chamber failed to reveal any trace of technology, but John paused when he started getting readout on the far wall. "That can't be right," he flew closer to the small section of wall, and sure enough he found it sparkling in the green light his ring gave off. "This wall is almost perfectly smooth, right down to the molecule."

"How is that possible?" Kat asked. "That's normal planetary rock. There isn't even water on this planet, let alone anything that can do that."

"It looks like this was made just before the meteor impact, too." John said as he scanned the edges of the smooth section. "Well, not here, the impact buried it. If I'm reading this right, this used to be on the surface."

"It's definitely not natural then, something that used to be on the surface above us made this. Some kind of anti-matter screen, perhaps?"

"Right. Which means that whatever used to be up there had tech that the scavengers missed, which spontaneously activated and completely annihilated itself…"

"Or someone else came along and did it." Kat finished the thought.

The two stared at each other for a long moment… before their rings both started blinking. Kat pulled up a screen. "I'm getting a signal. This is…" She trailed off before he eyes widened. "There's another Green Lantern approaching the planet."

The two of them floated back up through the hole and to the surface in time to see an emerald comet streaking towards them. In a flash of green light it stopped a few meters away, and another Green Lantern floated in front of them. Its main body was a crystalline sphere with a pair of glowing green eyes just above a band bearing the Lantern emblem. Its arms and legs were tapering tendrils, and a black Mohawk-like structure rose from its head. "Lantern Tui. Lantern Stewart. What are you doing on this planet?" The voice it emitted came in a series of patterned tones.

"Chaselon? What are you doing off of Oa?" John asked back. He couldn't say that he knew the other Lantern well, but they had met before. Just before John had turned down what Chaselon and four other Lanterns accepted. "I thought Alpha Lanterns only left to go after fugitives."

"I was given orders to take personal account of certain Lanterns." Chaselon replied, his voice somehow both musical and flat. "Several Lanterns have not reported in at their designated intervals. I was sent to ensure their status."

"Those 'designated intervals' are guidelines, not hard rules." John crossed his arms over his chest. "If the Guardians wanted a status update, they could have just called me."

"Perhaps they felt more direct contact was needed. I do not know, and I did not ask. And you have not answered my question. What are you doing here?"

"We were following a lead," Kat floated forward. "We were trying to find the origin of some unidentified technology. Our search lead us here."

Chaselon dipped a little. "Would this technology be related to the nanomachines that Lantern Jordan inquired about on Oa? For you should know that is restricted information."

John grimaced and got ready to settle into what was looking like jurisdictional pushing match. _Sorry Jacob, looks like it's going to take me a bit longer to get you answers than I thought._

* * *

Serling frowned as she poured over the schematics that Jacob had sent her, trying to glean any hidden secrets that the weapon could be hiding from her. Jacob had already given her his analysis of how the energy field it emitted worked, but she still needed more to really understand how it operated. Unfortunately, unlike some people, she had chosen to specialize in her education. And since this weapon wasn't nanotech itself…

She grumbled and rubbed her eyes. _I made these nanomachines to never be vulnerable again, and a week later someone already finds a way to kill me with them_ , she thought sourly. Ok, to be fair, the circumstances made it clear that this weapon was designed to kill Jacob rather than her, but it still irked her. She had barely had time to add some basic utility to her second skin and have some fun with it before this happened.

Not that other matters hadn't also been eating up her time. "Bloody useless University board," she muttered. 'Indefinite paid leave' was just another way of saying 'we don't want to deal with you right now'. She would have to leave dealing with that till later though, as taking care of this new threat was her top priority.

Fortunately, Ted was continuing to be incredibly helpful. She still had access to the lab he had given her to analyze Jacob, and that is where she was at the moment trying to figure out these 'nano-disassemblers.'

At that moment, Serling heard the door open behind her, but she didn't bother turning around. She focused her gaze to the upper right corner of her vision, and her HUD showed the feed from the camera in the corner of the lab. _Oh, it's just Ted_ , she thought, keeping focused on her work.

It was only a few seconds before she heard behind her "It's a bit odd to see you without the labcoat."

That got Serling to turn around in her chair, fixing the man with a raised eyebrow. Ted just smiled and offered her one of the coffee cups he held. Serling took it and shrugged her silver clad shoulders. "My second skin is easier to work with when it's not covered." The simple tank top she wore exposed her shoulders and arms to the air, and was currently covered by her nanomachines. She was still learning how to use them optimally, so that meant practicing as much as possible. She may have had better insight into how her own nanotech worked, but Jacob had been practicing and adapting to his own for months. And she wanted to be at least as good as he was.

Ted took it in stride and asked "Anything new to report?"

"Unfortunately, no. I've gone over all the data, but it's just not enough for me." She turned a little and reached for her note book on the desk behind her, but found it out of reach. She frowned slightly before her second skin flowed into a long tendril which grabbed the offending item and pulled it to her. "I'm going to need to build a functioning prototype and test it under lab conditions. Maybe then I could get a good counter-measure going."

Ted watched the nanites around her arm return to their normal shape. "Did I tell you just how amazing those things are?"

"You have," She replied, bring the mug up to her lips to hide her smirk. "But I could stand to hear it again."

Ted pulled up his own chair and sat close to her, his eyes tracing up and down her arms. "It's not just the functionality, but how well you managed to integrate them into your body. Hell, you turned it into a functional blood substitute as a matter of course. I had no idea you knew enough about biology to pull that off."

Serling hesitated before saying "Well, I read up a lot of papers on cybernetics first…" There was also a significant number of functions and methods in that data file that made it all possible. She probably wouldn't have finished (or be dead) if it wasn't for that data file. Should… she tell Ted about it? Before she had kept it to herself because… well, she had been worried that someone would take it away from her. Before she could finish her second skin. But now that it was done, maybe…

No. No, there was still too much work to be done with it. After her enhancement, she started to see even more data and connections in the file. It was hard to explain, but it felt like there was a sort of metadata to the whole thing she had just barely scratched the surface of. She had to _understand_ what it was. Because it sometimes… felt like the whole thing was part of one big Algorithm-

Serling shook her head as her HUD flickered with elaborate patterns before it settled down. _Damn it, that bug is still there_. There were still a few minor kinks to work out with her second skin, and that particular one always seemed to rear its head when she was deep in thought.

"Serling?" Ted asked, his expression shifting to one of concern. "Are you alright?"

She looked back at Ted, and the sight of his worried eyes looking into hers caused her mind to go from overcrowded to blank with alarming speeding. "I…" she started before she rubbed her eyes and tried again. "I've just been working on this problem for too long. Maybe I need to switch gears for a bit."

Ted arched and eyebrow, but it quickly changed into an easy smile. "Well, there are a few projects me an Jacob have on the back burner than you could be helpful with. We're looking into solutions for low-cost transportation…"

* * *

Dinah leaned back in her chair, settling into a comfortable position amid the leather. "So, how are things with Koriand'r?"

Sitting in the armchair across from her, Jacob arched an eyebrow, but smiled. "Good. Still trying to figure out a good activity we can do outside of the Mountain, though. Can't exactly stay in while everything is being rebuilt. Mostly we end up sightseeing. Oh, we are planning on visiting an orphanage in the Bronx tomorrow, it's one she's been frequenting. According to her, some of the kids are excited to meet me."

Dinah hummed. Their session was going well so far. Which wasn't to say previous ones had been bad, exactly, but it was nice to see the man genuinely comfortable. Or at least, that's was she picked up from his slight ramble. "Dinner and a movie not good enough?"

"We have- well, will again have, a more advanced home theater set up than actual theaters. And dinner… I suppose I get a certain pleasure out of watching her enjoy food, but it's really not the same thing." He shrugged. "And of course there are the stares, and people asking for autographs. Which is surreal for me, let me tell you. How do you deal with that?"

Dinah blinked. "I don't. I wear a wig when I'm on the job." She twirled a finger around one of her fake blonde locks.

Jacob opened his mouth before he closed it. Eventually he put his head into his hands. "No, no, don't even bother…" he muttered before he continued. "My point is that it can be hard to keep our outings to just the two of us, depending on where we go."

"Does the attention bother you?"

He shrugged. "More that I don't like it intruding when I want just want to be with Kori. As for myself…" The man held his hand out, and to Dinah's surprise the surface rippled and changed color to a Caucasian tone. "Mask nanites," he explained. "I made them myself just recently. I can use them to make clothes too, so I can probably be anonymous in public just fine now."

"Impressive."

"Thank you."

They talked for a few more minutes about the things going on in his life (personal, not job related) before silence fell between them. This was always the tricky part; deciding on which topic to start with after the banal pleasantries. When they first started, Dinah had hoped that Jacob would eventually start opening up to her on his own, but the man didn't oblige. He wasn't silent, but he tended to ramble about inconsequential things if she let him. A few times she had tried to nudge him a little, but the flat stare she had gotten in return dissuaded her from trying it too often.

It had taken a while for her to get an understanding just what his point of contention was with her: he thought she was patronizing. He never said it, of course, but it became clear one session when he pointed out that he was older than she was. Looking back, she realized that the tone and stance she had tried using in their sessions was of a more experienced person giving support to a less experienced one. And since their sessions were far more personal than professional, he didn't think she had those grounds to stand on.

Since then she had adopted a more taciturn and direct approach with him, which he seemed to appreciate. Switching away from advice to discussion had helped a lot, and she found that if she asked him something directly he usually answered without issue. Even when she asked things that were potentially uncomfortable, he never got upset with her. Ironically, he wasn't looking for sympathy, he was looking for criticism. The fact that her first bit of criticism she gave him was very poorly timed and rather thoughtless had made things difficult for her.

"Alright," Dinah leaned forward in her chair. Given everything that had happened recently, she decided to dive right into the deep end. "Tell me about Bialya."

Jacob grunted and leaned forward in turn. "Alright. What do you want to know?"

"I want to know how you feel about it." She said bluntly. "The last time we talked about this you said that you didn't like what happened, but would make the same choice if you had to. Is that still true?"

He nodded, and she leaned back a little. Again, the man was a hard read, but she was inclined to believe that he was at peace with his actions as he looked. The real question was why. "So, tell me about it." She said. Jacob gave her an odd look and she elaborated. "From the moment you decided to assault the base to the moment you found Koriand'r, what was it like?"

Jacob looked at the floor, his brow furrowing in thought. He seemed to be taking the question seriously at least. This wasn't the first time they had talked about the subject (and Superman had already told her the details of his conversation with Jacob), but she needed to be sure.

"Focused." He finally replied. "After the team's memory got wiped, I felt like I was getting pulled in all different directions, and I couldn't juggle it all. When the team nearly got killed by a cruise missile, the idea of finding the base and blowing everything up occurred to me. But when Bee made her threat…"

"You became angry."

"…Yes." He admitted. "But more than that, she crossed a line. Stupid, I know, considering she just tried to kill us all. But with that barrier torn down… everything just kind of came into focus. No more worry or doubt, because I knew lethal force was something I was now capable of." He sighed. "Looking back on it, I probably would have ended up doing the same thing whether or not Bee had called us. But she made me a lot more motivated."

 _Is he being honest, or is he trying to justify his actions?_ Dinah wonder. Again, she was inclined to believe him. Over the course of several sessions he had been consistent and rational anytime the subject had come up. "Lethal force is, of course, the last option we resort to in this line of work. But sometimes it is necessary. You and your team were also in a very extreme situation. Do you think you would react similarly in other situations?"

His mouth twisted. "Ideally I would keep these 'other situations' from happening in the first place. But, if you're asking when I personally think it's acceptable for me to use lethal force… I don't have a good answer for you. I could say 'to save another life' and 'when there's no other way', but without any context that just feels hollow. I suppose the best I can say is that I don't want to kill anybody. Whether or not that's always a good idea is another matter."

"What do you mean?" Dinah asked in concern.

Jacob looked to the side and gestured vaguely. "In Rhealasia, I left two of the War Dogs alive. I could have killed them, but I chose not to. Part of me wonders if that was the right decision. I mean, their teammate killed them later, but if they had escaped and killed more innocent people… that would have partially been on me."

"That's not true," Dinah was quick to say. "Ignoring that you can't predict the future, you can't take responsibility for other people's actions like that. You don't owe it to anyone to kill another human being."

Jacob looked at her skeptically. "Keeping true to my morals doesn't seem worth it if other people die because of it."

Dinah was silent for a long moment, thinking of how best to respond to such a… morally pragmatic statement. Eventually, she simply said "That's a defeatist attitude."

Jacob blinked, and for the first time in all their sessions the man actually laughed. "Just always win, is that it?" He said. He didn't say that in a mocking tone, but seemed amused by it. "Still don't really agree with you, but don't worry, I don't think I'm going to be 'doing what needs to be done' anytime soon."

She gave him a cautious look. "I'm certainly not going to dissuade you from that, but why?"

He sighed. "Because I don't want to be someone who finds killing people easy. Oh, I'll never turn into some murder-crazy vigilantly or anything like that but… It'll only take one. One time I get careless or lazy, where I justify it to myself because I've done it before and things seem bad. Where I don't think too hard about it and 'solve' the problem in the fastest way possible. Just one time to make a mistake and take a life I didn't have to."

 _What a strange man_ , Dinah thought to herself. He had clearly thought about this a lot, but you would almost never know it from the way he acted. He had a dry, almost understated sense of humor, and was fine with going along with the flow of general superheroing. Dinah was sure that there were others (maybe even in the League) that were like him, but in her experience you typically met people with outspoken and forceful personalities in this line of work. You would never think him capable of attacking with lethal force.

Right up until he showed you otherwise first hand.

Regardless, she had a decision to make. And after all these weeks, she was finally sure of her answer.

"I think you're ready to go back to active duty."

=====A=====


	56. 13-1

=====A=====

"You're serious?" Serling asked as we walked through the doors and into the lab. "The Atlantians have functional optical computers?"

"You can't expect people that live underwater to use electricity, right?" I said before I gave a shrug. "Though 'functional is a bit misleading. All the technology they actually use is magitech."

Serling frowned. "Magi-what?"

"A mix of magic and technology. The base of everything they make is mechanical, but they use magic to enhance its effects, or sometimes give it additional properties."

Atlantians had been refining their technology and magic for a long time, so it was no surprise that it was hard to tell where one ended and the other began. Still, their approach to developing magitech was usually to develop each half independently and then mix the two together. Their purely mundane optical computers only existed in their R&D labs, but they did exist. Mera hadn't even been aware they existed until she mentioned the problems she had testing my abilities to a coworker at the Conservatory of Sorcery.

Once Mera had sent one of these 'mundane' computers to me to analyze, I finally made some progress in understanding their magitech in general. Using Kaldur's Water-Bearers for comparison, I could finally sort out which bits were optical circuitry, which were arcane crystal lattices, and how the two meshed together. Didn't mean I suddenly could start using their magitech, though. Types of magic were not easily interchangeable, and technomany and geomancy weren't very similar.

We reached the workbench off to the side of the lab space, and Serling wasted no time fiddling with a projector looking device sitting on it. She had asked me to come by to observe the latest round of tests, but it seemed she had some last minute things to touch up. "That seems like cheating. I've spent my life pushing my technology as far as it could go, and they just get to go halfway and finish the job with magic?"

"It's not like they don't work hard at advancing their magic, either." I remarked. "And need I remind you that I'm sorta powered by magic these days?"

"No, you are powered by multi-dimensional manifold manipulation," she countered, remaining focused on the innards of the projector-thing. "You also sometimes emit a very exotic form of energy with unusual properties with regards to machinery. I'm sure I'll figure that out at some point."

I gave her a skeptical look, but she paid me no mind, silver covering her hands as she worked. It wasn't that Serling didn't believe in magic, it was just that she didn't believe _I_ had magic. I wasn't sure, but I assumed that the woman had the idea that magic belonging to wizards in robes casting fireballs, and something like technomancy didn't fit into her worldview. Though I still didn't understand why she seemed so resistant to me showing her otherwise.

And the fact that Serling still had traces of the Algorithm in her nanites didn't help. It was possible they were soaking up ambient magic that I was giving off, but I hadn't run into any other technology that did that.

"Regardless," I continued. "It's still worth broadening your horizons in addition to… deepening them? Furthering them? Whatever, don't get tunnel vision."

"And yet without my laser sharp focus, I never would have made these." She replied, holding up a silver coated hand. "At least, not nearly as quickly as I did."

"Speaking of which, how are you doing on the transhumanist front? Everything settled in?"

"I am growing more accustomed to my second skin every day." She confirmed, and as if to demonstrate hand formed a number of fine tools before returning to work on the circuitry in front of her. "I'm also gaining an appreciation for how hard you must have had it starting out. I thought having designed these things from the ground up would have made it easier for them to adapt to my brain waves, but perfect mental control is taking a lot of work. I can't imagine what it would be like to have a bunch of functions I didn't even know about."

I shrugged. "Yeah, but sometime it's like getting a surprise present. Oh that reminds me, I did figure out why I have a limit to the number of nanites I can have at one time. As we guessed, the limitation is hardcoded into my software… and I'm pretty sure it's a safety feature."

She looked at me quizzically. "Against what? Getting too big?"

"Technically, yes. More accurately, it has to do with the 'multi-dimensional manifold manipulation'. Remember how I told you that each of my nanites has a tiny Bleed portal in it?" She nodded and I continued. "Well, there needs to be a lot of synchronizing between the portals so that they don't interfere with each other. Green Lantern said it was amazing that I worked as well as I did, but it turns out there's a limit."

"What happens if you go past your current limit?"

"At first, not much, but I start getting diminishing returns as more processing power and energy is needed to hold myself together. A bit more and I start losing power the more I add. And once it costs more energy to hold myself together than I'm producing… well, I don't know what happens when trillions upon trillions of tiny Bleed portals destabilize simultaneously, but it's probably bad."

Serling grunted, finishing the widget she had been assembling before pausing. "Don't you also keep some of your nanites in 'extra dimensional storage? If the problem is the number of portals themselves, why do they count against your limit?"

I frowned. "Still not positive on that. There is still a connection to those 'dormant' nanites that's needs to be accounted for, but the cost is way lower. I _should_ be able to have a vastly larger reserve held in storage compared to what I can have active, and yet..."

Serling looked off in thought for a moment before she shook her head, picking up the device of the table. "We're getting distracted. We have tests to run,"

I stepped up beside her, looking at the device with interest. I was curious what she thought of the specs I had sent her."So, what have you learned about these effectors?"

"Effectors?" Serling looked at me in confusion. "That's not- why would you call them that? They're electromagnetic field generators with novel interactive properties relative to specific types of matter."

"Yeah, effectors."

The woman looked at me flatly. "I've learned that they're a pain to make." She said after a bit. "I've been over the blueprints you sent me a dozen times, yet it's taken me forever to build a functional model. That doesn't explode."

"Ah, I think I know what you mean. Hold on, let me transfer the data I compiled reverse engineering Red Tornado's effectors."

I sent her the info with the thought, and her eyes flickered rapidly from side to side as she parsed what she was getting. She didn't have a direct information uplink to her brain, so she had to scan through the data manually. "These equations assume that electromagnetic fields can under certain conditions... act like a superfluid? How does that work? Scratch that, who would ever think to try that?"

"I've noticed that it's something of a common trend among Earth supertechnology." I said. "At the time that it's created, most of it takes advantage of physical properties or processes that no one could ever have predicted would work. Along with metahuman nonsense, I have a half-baked theory that Earth somehow has a higher probability of discovering emergent properties in physics."

Her expression went flat. "If that's true, I don't know if I should be excited or terrified."

"May you live in interesting spacetimes." I paraphrased at I continued. "I've been toying around with the effectors a lot, and I still feel like I'm only scratching the surface. Like you said, the fields can interact with certain kinds of matter, in an action-reaction displacement effect similar to what you see from telekinetics. It can move matter or, assuming that the fire android was using effectors, induce certain chemical reactions, but only for certain kinds of matter."

"For different kinds of matter..." Serling mulled. "Is it based on how they're configured?"

"I believe so, and I did some tinkering to find out. And to my surprise, I successfully made a universal effector generator."

"Really? Doesn't that mean you have artificial telekinesis?"

"Yep. There's just one problem: it sucks."

At Serling's confused look, the whole of my right arm shifted into an oblong techno-cylinder, bulky with a number of interlocking plates. I pointed the limb at the desk and put a fair amount of power into it… only to have a pencil slowly float upwards. "You lose a lot of efficiency and efficacy switching from specific purpose to general purpose. Part of it is probably due to this being my first attempt and my own inexperience with it, but I doubt the general effector will ever come anywhere close in power to its counterparts."

Serling's mouth twisted. "Disappointing, though there could still be uses for that. If the 'resolution' is good enough, being able to make force-tweezers would be an amazing help when working with small or delicate electronics."

I nodded, my arm changing back to normal. "I had the same thought, but considering someone is using this tech to try and kill me, I've had to shelve looking into more mundane uses for it. For now I've been looking into seeing just what new stuff I can do with it."

"Shouldn't you also be trying to find a counter, then?"

"Well… with you working on that, I decided to take a different approach. After all, if I learn more about how the technology can be used and how it works, there's a good chance I could stumble across something that could help us here. So, I tried an idea that had been floating in the back of my mind for a while."

"Which was…?"

I grinned. "It's funny we were talking about Atlantian technology-"

"Guys!" We turned to see Ted walk into the lab, a large box cradled in his arms. "I come bearing sacrifices, fresh from the nanoforge."

As he stopped next to us, I flipped open the box and looked inside. There were stacks of sealed petri dishes, but through their clear lids I could see a greyish substance swirling about, almost like it was alive. "Please don't suddenly turn sapient." I asked the collection of nanomachines. I know we needed them to run accurate tests, but I still felt a slight trepidation about it.

"Oh, there really isn't any worry of that." Ted assure me. "These things are _much_ simpler than your's or Serling's, and they barely have any programming at all. My wristwatch has a more complex OS than these nanites. Now, let's see if this effector works as advertised."

"Oh god, not you too." Serling groaned.

Ted shrugged with a grin. "Hey, if the glove fits. To the testing area!"

Said test area was a space about 4 meters across in the center of the lab, a set of pylons sectioning off the area. In the center there was a small raised platform form, opposite a tripod that about a meter or so away. Serling walked into space and affixed the device she had been working on to the tripod, angling the aperture at the platform. At the same time, Ted placed a petri dish from the box down in the line of fire Serling was setting up.

The two walked back to me and took position. "Ok," Ted drawled as he pulled out a tablet. "This is the control test for nano disassembler prototype mark 9. You ready."

I nodded. Serling's did as well, though her nanites also flowed over her face, forming into a pair of laboratory goggles. I gave her a look. "You do realize that if we lose containment, the goggles will do nothing, right?"

"Hush, you."

Ted counted down, and a beam of white light briefly flashed from the tripod to the platform. A quick inspection showed that the nanites in the dish were unmoving and blackened. "Alright, looks like we can work with this." Ted said. We ran a few more control tests on various settings but everything looked to be functional.

Then came time for the real test. Ted walked up to the testing platform and placed down several devices around the perimeter that I recognized. "Did you manage to increase their performance?" I asked.

"No, but I have reworked them a bit." He replied, setting the last one down and walking back to us. "We just don't have advanced enough manufacturing to properly recreate your shields, but I did learn a thing or two from it. I can't replicate their ability to block solid matter just yet, but I did adapt the principles it uses to block electromagnetic phenomenon. In theory it should block the energy wave."

A few taps on his tablet, and the air around the platform rippled and darkened. A wavy black curtain obscured our view of the testing space, and even I was having trouble seeing through it. Ted counted down. "3, 2, 1..."

Again the white beam fired from the tripod, and when it hit the curtain there was distortion and sudden jolt of electricity. Fortunately it was grounded by the pylons, and in a few moments everything settled down. The curtain dropped to reveal… another blackened pile of dead nanites.

Serling scowled. "Damn it, it didn't work."

"Well, it wasn't a total failure," Ted said as he poured over the data on his tablet. "It looks like some of the energy was successfully diverted, it just wasn't enough. I think we're on the right track though, I just need to modify the frequency.."

Serling shook her head. "We could be on one of many tracks, most which will lead nowhere. But… you do have a good track record of turning nonsense into something functional." She looked at me. "What do you think? With you helping, we might have a shot at this."

"I'll help as long as I can, but I need to go in two hours. I'm meeting up with Red Tornado so we can track down the person who made these things in the first place."

Serling sighed. "As much as I'd like to argue, I can't say I enjoy not knowing what our mystery villain is up to. And leaving it to others is a sure way for nothing to get done. Alright, fine." She paused, considering something before looking me in the eye with an intense look. "Say you find them. What happens then?"

"Well, depending on what we find out, we come up with a plan of attack. And then we group up and go after them."

"And I'm coming with."

"And you're… wait what?"

Her gaze didn't waver. "The way I see it, I'm going to need some practice in using my second skin to protect myself. And since this new threat is potentially lethal to me, I should seek it out and put an end to it first."

Ted then poked his head in. "Serling, the fact that this tech can kill you is exactly why you shouldn't be going after them! Hell, Jacob probably shouldn't do it personally either! There are plenty of other superheroes who can handle this!"

Serling scowled, the nanites flowing away from her face but not disappearing completely. "I will not be left on the sidelines waiting for trouble to find me again! It's a threat to us, so I'm going to put an end to it myself!" She looked back at me. "You understand, don't you?"

I hesitated. I had no idea how Serling would react to being in the stress of a potentially lethal situation. She handled Deathstroke alright, but even then she took more risks than I had been comfortable with. Still… if the last few months had proven anything, she wasn't wrong about how trouble had a habit of seeking us out. Plus there was always the chance that she'd go off on her own if I said no.

 _Why am I suddenly feeling sympathy for Batman?_ I wondered as I weighed the risks in my mind. In the end, keeping an eye on here won out. "Alright, I'll talk to the League about it. But," I held up a finger. "You will be following my lead. If I say we hang back and let the others handle it, then we do just that. Are we clear?"

Serling grin with just a little too much teeth. "Crystal."

* * *

"So…" I said slowly, tracing my hand across the holographic map of the U.S. floating in front of me. "Here's the timeline: in 1945, you rebel against Morrow and he goes into hiding. At some point in the early 1980's, he comes into contact with Anthony Ivo and takes him on as an apprentice. And later that year, Ivo quits his job as a professor and starts Amazing Animatics Incorporated. The two are together for the better part of a decade before they have a falling out."

Several marks showed up on the map, with lines and dates drawn between them. "At this point Morrow's trail goes cold." I continued. "I've compiled a few odd incident involving robberies of electronic components and robotic entries, but nothing conclusive. As far as I can tell, if he's still alive, he's well and truly gone to ground."

The map changed slightly, overlaying a new set of points and lines. "As for Ivo, he first tried his hand at destroying superheroes in 1991. For reasons. After that Ivo popped up in 1995, 1997, and 2005, due to robberies and intentional altercations with the League, with that last one leading to his assumed death. Except not, given that time a few months ago. Have I missed anything?"

A short distance behind me, Red Tornado replied "That is an accurate summation of every first hand recorded instance of Dr. Morrow and Professor Ivo. At least as far as their criminal careers are concerned."

I sighed. "That's not a lot to go on. Though I suppose that if the League had more data, we would have found them by now." I muttered as I walked through the screen and towards the window staring down at the gorgeous vista of the planet below me.

While the Mountain did have a direct connection to the Justice League's main database, it didn't have access to all of the League's files and mission data. Authorization could have been given, but seeing as how I had a limited permission to visit the Watchtower, Red Tornado decided that it would be easier if we went over the data they had up on the satellite. At the moment we were on the Watchtower promenade, as we could go over the data from anywhere, and I was a fan of the view.

Red Tornado walked up beside me. "I am afraid that after finding no leads on his whereabouts, the League was forced to prioritize their efforts away from finding Ivo to more immediate issues."

"As I saw," I grumbled. In the process of going over the various case files on the pair of villains, I had gotten a good look at a number of other mission reports the League had created. I… didn't know how to feel about that. On the one hand I'm miffed that it only took them two weeks to give up, but on the other hand I now had some sympathy for how fast this whole superhero job moved. Hell, it was barely a month after Amazo before I sorta-died and gained magic powers. "So, now what?"

Red Tornado didn't respond at first, remaining motionless at my side. He then turned and brought the holographic screen in front of him, along with opening a few others. "Perhaps we can do a deeper analysis of the data, and isolate possibilities. It is likely it will generate several leads we will have to follow up on, but it will be a place to start.." I saw code rapidly scrawl across one of the screens as the android set up the impromptu analysis program. Before he executed it, he looked over at me. "If you have any additional parameters you would like to add..."

I consider for a few seconds before I said "Could you search the database for any suspicious sales or thefts of Osmium-Titanium metamaterials?"

Red Tornado gave me a quizzical look. And don't ask how I could tell, it was just something I had started to pick up after spending enough time with him. "I could, though I am not sure why we would want to."

I gestured. "Remember how Amazo had the one subsystem that I could never emulate? Without exploding, I mean. Well, I'm been trying to manually build one so that I could figure out how it worked and how to use it. Going over the 'metadata' for it I integrated into my own programing, I managed to piece some things together, like what substances it used. That metamaterial struck me as being really specific, I don't think there are a lot of applications for it."

The android turned back to the screen and put in the parameters, and a moment later the program was underway. I briefly considered using my magic to speed things up, but Batman had been clear that he didn't want me to use technomancy on the Watchtower's systems. Something about security concerns.

I didn't have long to dwell on it either, as a pair of figures entered the promenade and walked towards us. "You know," Hawkwoman drawled. "At this point it might be easier just to give you full access to the place, considering how often you're up here."

"If it's all the same, I'd prefer he stay supervised." Hawkman replied, shooting me a look which I was sure I didn't deserve. "So, we've been briefed on the situation. We'll be running point on the League side of this operation."

"Good to hear." I nodded. "Right now we're seeing if we can rustle up some leads, and then were going to do some old fashioned investigation. I know that you are police officers, but I don't suppose you were detectives, were you?"

"Not as such..." Hawkwoman said. "We weren't part of the Criminal Investigation Corp proper, but the unit we were a part of before we came here specialized in 'unusual' circumstances. We were tasked with situations that required a mixed approach of intelligence, tactics and combat, when time did not allow for a more structured approach. In any case, we've had training in intelligence operations."

"Interesting," I mulled. With such a varied skilled set, I guessed that was the reason their superiors chose to send them to Earth. "Do you guys run the League's intelligence operations, or is that mostly Batman?"

The two looked at each other with an expression I couldn't quite place before Hawkman looked back at me. "The League… doesn't really do intelligence operations. At least, not before your team was formed. We share everything we know, but it can be hard for superheroes to discreetly collect information. I supposed Batman does it the most, but we have no idea how." He had a sour look on his face as he told me this.

"Ah," I replied "Well… ah, never mind."

"Machina, what is it?" Red Tornado asked.

 _He's getting better at reading me_ , I thought before I said "The League… is really more of an alliance than a team, isn't it?" The three other superheroes gave me a look and I continued. "I mean, maybe I'm biased considering my own team experiences, but from where I'm standing you guys only work together if you have to. Which is understandable, considering you each have your own territory to cover, but a lot slips through the cracks as a result."

Hawkman's brow creased. "I understand where you're coming from, but you make it sound as if we are all at arm's length from each other."

"I'm not saying anything personal, I meant more from an operational standpoint. The vast majority of the time, you're all working alone. Err, present company excluded, of course." I gestured to the Hawks. "Aside from meetings, you only come together when a particular hero's expertise is needed, or if the threat is large enough. You also have a very loose command structure, as aside from the current leader there's not real seniority among members. A bit odd for a group this size."

"Do you have a point to make?" Hawkwoman asked.

I hesitated. "Not as such, it was just an observation. Going through all of these mission files has really helped me get a handle on how the League works. And just how much it deals with. It's just… I'm not sure the League is doing enough."

Hawkwoman snorted. "You're not wrong. About two dozen people, policing an entire planet? Especially one as crazy as Earth? It's a wonder anything gets done."

"Not quite what I meant," I clarified. "You guys are usually pretty good at prioritizing the bigger threats that show up on the radar. What I'm worried about are the threats we're not seeing."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I brought up the statistics we had on various Global Threats and organizations. "The League of Shadows is estimated to have about 5,000 core personnel, with various skills and positions in society. Their combined wealth and resources is estimated to be greater than some countries, but we don't know for certain because their financial movements are so hard to track. And what they do with all of this… is make an orbital death ray satellite that had no chance in hell staying up for more than 5 minutes? Can you imagine how much damage they could have done spending all those resources on lobbying?"

"Lobbying?" Hawkman asked. "You mean… long form bribery? From what I understand, many countries have laws for tracking where your politicians get their money from. That much money would definitely set off some red flags."

I frowned. "Oh right, different history. Well, where I came from my nation was starting to run into serious problems systemic corruption and regulatory capture. My point is the League spends all day everyday punching bad guys in the face. Who certainly need punching, but as a result we don't see any of the more subtle stuff that these people are doing. Well, save for Batman, but he's only one man." I looked off to the side. "Probably why he had my team running covert ops."

Red Tornado considered this for a moment before replying "There are many practical and ethical limitations that would prevent the League from gathering the information required to fully track an organization such as the League of Shadows. Furthermore, it would go against the spirit of what the League stands for: we exist to handle the threats that the world cannot handle itself. In short, it is not our responsibility, and the United Nations tactfully wants to keep it that way."

"I'm not sure Batman got that memo." I said flatly.

"Batman keeps his nosing around to Gotham, as far as everyone knows." Hawkwoman pointed out. "They've accepted that's his territory. If nations though that he was looking into state secrets, they would be a lot less tolerant of him and the League as a whole. They're fine with us taking down supervillains and giant monster along with the occasional crook, but the spy game? They don't want us involved."

"Not as I would have put it," Red Tornado remarked. "But we must trust that Earth's various intelligence organizations are capable of dealing with the League of Shadows more… mundane crimes."

"Well, I certainly hope they are," I groused, looking back at the data in front of me. "Because if they're dropping the ball and expecting us to pick it up when things hit the fan, we'll all going to be screwed."

A chime sounded and I looked back at the other holographic display. The analysis had finished. "We've got a hit. Look like Amazing Animatics Incorporated had subsidiary that specialized in material science. They made a number of different materials, and the metamaterial was one of them. They don't sell it quite as much these days... except for two large purchases. The first was about a year ago, and the second was about a month ago. Both were shipped to the same location: a warehouse in New Jersey."

Hawkman perked up. "Amazing Animatics? That was Ivo's company, right?"

"Yep." I said as I looked at the spot on the map. The brief image of a terrified face flickered through my mind before I pushed it aside. "Let's go pay a visit."

=====A=====

A/N: This took longer than I meant, but real life got in the way.


	57. 13-2

=====A=====

I was only half surprised to find that the warehouse was perfectly mundane. It wasn't even abandoned or unused, it was fully active and used by the local railroad company to store freight before it was shipped out. It was actually adjacent to the rail yard, the two only a hundred meters apart and connected via a railway.

As we arrived late in the evening, the warehouse was devoid of people when we got there. This worked out fine for us, as it allowed us to slip in and investigate without anyone asking awkward questions. A quick check of the building's floor and computer catalog showed that not only were the metamaterials that had been ordered not there, but there wasn't any log of them showing up in the first place. However, digging a little deeper digitally showed clear signs that the data had been tampered with.

"So, now what?" Superboy asked, folding his arms across his chest. He was dressed in an updated version of his solar suit, one I had managed to tint black without sacrificing their functionality. There was a wide belt around his waist I had made which worked as a sort of blue solar radiation battery, and a button press would flood his suit with it. "Do we just wait here for Ivo to show up?" Behind him, Miss Martian and Starfire were drifting slowly through the rows of boxes, looking for clues.

Walking out of the small administration room, I shook my head. "We have no idea how long that would take, or what his needs are. It could be this last shipment was all he needed to finish his latest project, and I'm not waiting around for another Amazo."

Over the radio, I head Robin speak up. " _I agree, but I'm not finding any solid clues out here either. There are car tracks everywhere, but this is an active warehouse. Picking out a suspicious one is like finding a needle in a haystack._ "

I bowed my head in thought, assessing what we had to work with. The Team was limited to the five of us at the moment; We were the ones ready to go as soon as I had put the data together, and Starfire decided that it was enough for a recon squad. The rest were on their way or holding in reserve for the time being. Beyond that, Red Tornado and the Hawks were looking into the warehouse and railway personnel, seeing if they had any connection to the pair of scientists we were after.

I had also called Serling, but it went to her voice mail. I… may not have tried much harder than that to contact her. Part of me hoped we could get this resolved without getting her involved at all.

In any case, if we wanted a solid lead, we would need to narrow the possibilities. "Ivo is a creature of convenience," I reasoned out loud. "He liked having little robots attend to him while he worked at the university. And he barely ever went further than a few miles from his home. It's possible he would have sent a robotic minion to pick his materials up, but then someone might have noticed. Then again if he's able to make fully human androids..." I trailed off before I shook my head. I couldn't be distracted by what ifs.

" _So, what's the easiest way to get things out of the warehouse without anyone noticing?_ " Robin mused. " _If I were doing it, and spoofing logs like he's doing, I would have the stuff loaded in with another shipment and pick it up somewhere convenient._ "

" _These rail lines do not lead to places average people pick up goods though. It is all for commercial enterprises._ " Starfire countered. " _Picking it up from here would be less effort and fewer steps. Maybe he simply walked in and took it._ "

A dumb thought then popped into my head. "What if… he's right here?" I mused out loud.

" _What, in the building?_ " Robin said skeptically.

I shook my head. "No, not literally here. I meant the train yard. What if he had a lab set up right next to here?"

As she floated nearby, I saw Miss Martian cup her chin. "It would make getting materials back to his lab easier. He'd only have to move it a few dozen meters."

" _That's a pretty big assumption..._ " Robin said, but after a pause he continued " _Then again, we're already here. Might as well do some poking around._ "

* * *

The rail yard seemed typical, not that I was an expert on such things. There were just over two dozen railways with trains on them, with several hangers at the far end of the yard. A river lined the southern side, and a good distance north was nearest town. So while there was a decent area to search, it was relatively contained. Superboy and Starfire searched the train cars, making use of Superboy's X-ray vision to speed things along. Miss Martian and Robin went to the hangars instead.

Meanwhile, I was hanging back, my optical cloak engaged while I stood atop one of the train engines. Considering that Ivo potentially had made the nano-disassemblers, it was decided that I should be on overwatch. A pair of knife missiles followed my companions cloaked, while I had another pair circling the perimeter of the yard.

 _My first mission back on the team_ , and I'm running support again, I mused. Not that I minded. I felt like I had been thrown into the thick of things enough on my last mission that I could stand to hang back for a bit. And besides, I had the feeling that my staying in the back wouldn't last very long.

From the view of the drone following Robin and Miss Martian, I saw the pair creeping past a number of large cranes and maintenance machinery, moving towards the back of their current hangar. They had gone over the last two without a trace of anything suspicious, and this one was shaping up to look the same.

Or at least it was until Miss Martian walked across the large circular platform used to rotate train engines. As she crossed the edge of the turntable, I saw a brief flash of infrared light cross over her legs. I wasn't completely sure what that was, but I trusted my instincts and said "Robin, Miss Martian, hide now!"

The two didn't move quickly enough, as a moment later there was a rattling from the floor grating, and a second later out popped...

Robot monkeys. Black with glowing green accents, the things flew in every direction using tiny jetpacks. Each emitted a high pitched cackle, and in a few seconds the entire hangar was filled with synthetic, discordant laughter.

 _...I don't know why I'm surprised_ , I thought, watching as my teammates pulled back. Over the radio I said "Guys we have robot monkeys coming from the south-most hangar. I repeat, robot monkeys. I'm pretty sure they know we're here." There were a series of pops and bright lights as Robin threw out some flash bombs, and he and Miss Martian got some breathing room to run out the hangar doors. The monkeys were not far behind, however.

"Then there is no reason for us to skulk any longer." Starfire declared, and immediately after she launched herself into the air and towards the oncoming swarm. Superboy was not far behind, and soon starbolts and heat rays flashed through the air.

While the two started tearing into the robots I contacted my other teammates, whom I lost sight of in the sudden chaos. "You guys alight?"

" _Yeah, Star and SB are drawing all the attention._ " Robin replied. " _Moving in to assist._ "

"Wait," I said, as I assessed our options. I did have a trump card I could play… but no, I needed to save that in case I really need it. If I had to use it, I wanted to give Ivo as little chance as he could to adapt to it. Besides which, I had a different option available to me, one which fit the situation nicely. "I can handle this. You guys should sneak back in and check out where all those monkeys came from. "

" _You sure you'll be enough?_ "

"Don't worry. I'm sending in the cavalry."I sent a signal up to Moya floating above the rail yard, and a hole opened upon her underbelly. A dozen more knife missiles floated down towards the battle, but these weren't the recon models I had already fielded. They were the same arrowhead shape, but with heavier armor, and equipped with lightning generators and a spinal laser. The Mk. II was designed for combat, and while they weren't as fast or stealthy as my recon drones, made up for it in firepower.

A few enemy drones responded quickly, veering off from fighting my teammates to engage the new threat. However, as soon as they got within a dozen meters my leading drone lanced out with a laser beam. The foremost monkey was blown apart and dropped out of the sky, and the rest scattered.

My drones then spaced out into small squadrons and moved around the swarm of robot monkeys, targeting ones at the edges of the group. Ivo's still out numbered mine considerably, and I didn't want to risk getting flanked and outmatched. But, while they were a bit faster and more agile than my Mk IIs, the monkeys were pretty disorganized. Any one that broke off from the group to attack my drones was quickly targeted, and even when one managed to get close it was zapped by a defensive lightning bolt.

It took a lot of my focus to stay on top of the chaos that was spilling out over the rail yard. I wasn't manually controlling my drones, but I had a lot of different cameras to watch, and I also had to make sure I didn't accidentally shoot my teammates. Still, even playing it conservative, we were whittling their numbers at a steady rate. The robot monkeys had eye lasers, but they couldn't get within range of my drones, and they didn't seem to do significant damage to Starfire or Superboy. It was clear that we would come out on top… so why were they still attacking?

The answer came when Robin commed us " _Guys, it's a diversion! Ivo's getting away on a train!_ "

I paused before I focused my attention on my hearing, and sure enough there was the telltale sound of metal wheels on rails. I kicked up into the air, and a few seconds later spotted a train moving along the river at the south end of the yard. Combat with the monkeys had dragged northward without any of us noticing. Clever.

The train was short, only one cargo container pulled by an engine, so it was picking up speed quickly. I took stock of everyone's position and situation before flying towards it. "He's getting away. I'm going to intercept."

" _Acknowledged, but be careful._ " Starfire said. " _If Ivo has nano-disassemblers-_ "

"I know, I'll pull back at the first sign." I replied, and three of the Mk IIs broke off to join me. I didn't want to get separated from the rest of my team, so stopping the train was the first thing I had to do. In short order I landed on the top of the engine, and the moment I did more robot monkeys poured out of it. _Must have sensors all over this thing_ , I thought, seeing as how the small robots were heading straight for me and not my drones. If my optical camo wasn't doing me much good, I had other options.

I faded back into view and made a few adjustments, shield emitters forming on my arms along with another pair at the ends of mechadendrite limbs from my back. Two more mechadendrite limbs mounted laser cannons, and by the time the monkeys reached me I had formed a defensive wall with my cannons poking out of the gaps. With my drones flanking me, I stalked forward, pushing and blasting my way through the cackling mess. It was less graceful than I would have liked, but I kept my footing and blocked everything that was coming at me.

Though it seems I may not have needed to bother. The monkeys tried to get at me with their claws or eye lasers, but nothing more than that. I was still cautious as I bashed and blasted them to pieces, but quickly enough their numbers thinned. When only one remained, I let it slip through my shield and grabbed it by the head, crushing it in an instant. I took a moment to scan the little robot, and confirmed that it didn't have any weapons that were a threat to me.

 _So, does that mean it wasn't Ivo that attacked us then?_ I wondered as I ducked inside the train engine. The space was cramped so it was just me and the front control panel. Along with several more robot monkeys crawling at me. "Oh to hell with this." I muttered, and my surface shifted into a Faraday mesh just before lightning tore outward from me. In the cramped space there was nowhere for my targets to dodge to, so all of them burned with electricity. A few moments later the cabin was filled with sizzling and scorched electronics.

Including the main console of the train engine, but luckily engineers have the sense to install a manual override for these kinds of situations. I reached for the emergency brake lever next to the console and pulled, the whole train lurching as the wheels locked up and a horrible grinding sound filled the air. It would take a bit for it to come to a complete stop, but it was only a few cars and it hadn't built up that much speed, so it wouldn't take too long.

In the meantime, I made my way back through the engine's back door and towards the connecting car. My fingers dug into the metal and I wrenched the door open, light spilling into the dimly lit cargo car. There was a mess of crates and equipment, along with the man I was looking for.

Anthony Ivo was a short, slightly portly man with curly auburn hair, dressed in a sweater vest and slacks. He stumbled back from my entrance, his expression a mix of anger and fear. "Oh, _you_." He said in a high voice, before looking to the side. "Amazo, initialize and activate protocol alpha!"

In the dark corner of cargo car, I saw movement. Pulling itself out of a maintenance frame was a familiar shape, if much rougher than I remembered. This Amazo had many of its external plates missing, and I could tell that several of its innards were still under construction. "Initialized. Begin combat-"

That was as far as I got before I cleared the distance, my hand placed on its chest. "No." With a thought I accessed it's power supply and shut it down, and the android crumpled to the floor.

"...learned some new tricks, I see." Ivo said sullenly. "Well, I suppose that-" he was cut off as I grabbed him and roughly hauled him out of the cargo car. The train had stopped moving by this points, and I didn't want him around any of his toys.

"Hey now, that's uncalled for!" he said as I jumped down to the ground with him in tow. "You-" The rest of his rant was cut off as my hand clamped around his throat and lifted him up in the air. Most people don't appreciate just how much it hurts to be lifted clear off the ground by the neck. It's essentially being hanged in reverse. I held him there for a few seconds before I slammed him against the side of the cargo car, stunning him slightly but also taking some of the pressure off of his neck.

After a few moments for him to recover, I asked "Why? Why did you do any of this?"

He coughed and sputtered. "Wh-what? What are you talking about?! You can't treat me like this, there are laws-!"

He cut off as my hand tightened ever so slightly around his throat. "Superhero brutality is almost expected," I said calmly. "If I told everyone that I broke your leg as you were trying to escape, no one would question it. Now answer me. Going after superheroes, the death and destruction you caused, what was it for?"

I felt the low growl built in his throat beneath my fingers, and his anger seemed to override his fear. "Why?! This is why! All my life I had been pushed around by those stronger than me! I thought that once I showed people my genius I would finally get respect, but all of my 'peers' were jealous! They kicked me out of the University because I made them all look bad! And when I tried to show them the mistake they made, the so called 'heroes' stopped me!"

He squirmed in my grasp, but stared at me with hate filled eyes. "They had the _gall_ to lecture me, the morons who get to do anything they want because they have power! You don't know what I've had to do, all the work I've put in! I'm not going to bother with a society that exalts the likes of you!"

I stared at him for a long few seconds after his rant wound down, waiting to see if he had any more to say. When he didn't I said "That's it? You had a hard life, so now you kill people?"

Ivo sneered back at me. "Even with an artificial brain, you're too stupid think beyond what's right in front of you. I don't have to justify myself to a piece of scrap whose greatest achievement was ruining a far superior machine. Not to you, or anyone else."

"...Then I suppose there's nothing else then." I said, and my fingers tightened around his throat again. He flailed impotently in my grip, and his thrashing slowly got weaker and weaker.

Then, I felt a hand come to rest on my arm. I tilted my head to face Starfire, who was looking back at me. The sounds of fighting had stopped, the rest team now standing behind me, "Machina, I think he's done." She said. "Are you?"

I released Ivo from my grip, and he fell to the ground, desperately gasping for breath. I took a look at the small, pathetic man before I turned and walked away. "Yeah, I'm done."

* * *

"You wouldn't have actually killed him, would you?" I was broken out of my thoughts and looked to my side, Robin staring back at me with an unusually serious look on his face. "You were just intimidating him to soften him up for questioning, right?"

I didn't answer him immediately, instead looking towards the man in question. Ivo was sitting on the ground with his hands bound behind his back, scowling up at Hawkman and Hawkwoman, the two space cops grilling him. The Leaguers had opted to be the ones to question the scientist as he had proven resistant to Miss Martian's telepathy (apparently the man could think about circuit board schematics hard enough to block a mind reader). I had been... politely encouraged to stay away for a bit.

I hesitated for a moment longer before I replied. "We did need answers from him, so no, I wasn't going to kill him. Probably."

"Probably? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

I waved him off. "I'm just being ornery. Don't worry about it."

Rather than back off though, Robin surprised me by saying "Don't joke about this. If Star hadn't stopped you, would you have killed Ivo?"

I drew back a little at how serious Robin had gotten. It wasn't a mood I was used to seeing him in… then again, I hadn't seen him much at all lately. Robin (and Kid Flash for that matter) had been kind of absent from the Mountain since Bialya, unless there was official Team business. The bank robbery had been the most I had interacted with him in weeks. And before that, I couldn't really say I interacted with him that much more.

The simple fact was… Robin was a kid.

Yes, he wasn't a normal kid, but he still acted like one. He was highly intelligent and competent, but often times that just made him kind of a little shit. Not to say he was a bad person or anything, but it didn't really endear me to hang out with him. Plus the fact that I was literally more than twice his age made the whole thing weird. (Well, weirder than it was for me and the rest of the team anyway).

But back in the present, it seemed he had a bone to pick with me. I could guess why, but I decided to answer him as directly as I could. "No, I wouldn't have killed him. I was going to choke him out so that he would be easier to deal with until the rest of you arrived. I'm not going to comprise a mission by killing a source of information, not to mention the bad president it would set." I folded my arms across my chest. "Though if you're asking what I personally feel, I wouldn't shed a tear if the man happened to break his neck falling down a flight of stairs."

"How can you be so calm about it?!" He suddenly snapped. He got control of himself and lowered his voice a little. "How can you be a superhero and talk about killing someone like that?"

Ah, there it is. "I wasn't trying to make a threat, just stating my antipathy for the man. I have no intention of killing Ivo unless I absolutely have to. I just… like to use hypotheticals to get my point across. Even for things I don't seriously entertain."

"You seriously entertained it at least once." He said flatly. "You crossed a line in Bialya, man. You just… you can't do things like that!"

"Alright."

The was a long expectant pause before Robin realised I wasn't going to say anything else. "What, that's it? That's all you have to say?"

"Pretty much. You're a smart kid, and you know that the League has already decided my actions were justifiable. And I'm sure you also know all the reasons I would give to justify what I did and why. If you still don't approve… well there's not much I can do about that."

Robin's face twisted in frustration, but he was completely at a loss with how to respond. Eventually he just huffed and walked away, fading into the dark between two nearby train cars. I held in a sigh before moving towards the group interrogating Ivo. I had probably been gone long enough the Ivo was more focused on the others, and I didn't want to hang around a sullen Robin.

As I approached though, I spotted something in the night sky getting closer. It quickly resolved itself into Troia,, who settled down next to me. "Guess I'm late to the party," she said as she looked over at the assembled group.

"Yeah, but we weren't expecting you to come. Is the rest of the Team not at the Mountain?"

"They're there. I just… didn't feel like waiting."

I wondered how long it had taken her to fly from the nearest Zeta Tube, but I didn't dwell on that too much, instead refocusing on the current exchange between Hawkman and Ivo. "-don't know what you're talking about." Ivo snapped, looking up at his interrogator. "I've spent the past few months trying to rebuild my magnum opus, why would I jeopardize that by provoking you lot early?"

"He's probably telling the truth," I said, and everyone looked towards me. "We've swept the area pretty thoroughly, and while we've found a bunch of interesting stuff, there were no signs of any nano-disassemblers. I don't think it was him."

"Nano-what?" Ivo perked up. "Oh, that sounds fun. I had my own ideas of how I was going to deal with you, but it seems someone beat me to the punch."

Hawkman returned the man's attention to him as he said "And on that note, we come to the other matter at hand. Tell us about Dr. Morrow."

Immediately, what little mirth Ivo had disappeared. "Oh, _him_. Don't tell me that he's the one that's been causing you trouble."

"Just tell us what you know. Where would he be hiding? What does he want? Anything you could tell us about him."

Ivo seemed annoyed by the questions more than anything else. "He was a self righteous prick who couldn't stand being proven wrong. Just because something worked in the forties doesn't mean it can't change. Anyway, I haven't seen him in decades, and even if I did know something about what he's currently doing, I have no inclination to tell you."

I frowned. It looked like we were going to have to get Wonder Woman again. I hated to keep bothering the woman, but the Lasso of Truth was just so damn useful.

However, Troia stepped up. "I got this."she said as she reached for a lasso on her hip. She tossed one end over Ivo, and the rope glowed silver. Troia's expression settled into "You will tell us what you know about what Dr. Morrow in currently doing."

Ivo's face went through a number of expressions before he started talking, almost surprised by what was coming out of his mouth. "He's been in hiding ever since the two of us split up, so the fact that he's been active in the past few months is out of character for him. Blasting a radio signal across the half country is not something I expected him to do, let alone attack you lot again." He blinked and looked around in confusion. "Wait, what was that? What just happened?!"

I glanced at the lasso and back at Troia. "Yeah, what did just happen? Because I know that's not the Lasso of Truth."

"No, it's the Lasso of Persuasion." She said with a smirk. "Anyone bound by is is compelled to do what I ask of them, so long as my willpower is greater. It's not quite as good as the other Lasso for getting answers, but it gets the job done." She turned back to our captive. "You will tell us about this radio signal."

Ivo seemed to resist for a moment before he gave up and said. "I have a lot of work to keep me occupied, but I do keep tabs on things. A few days ago I noticed a signal transmission hidden among AM radio waves. It was encrypted, so I don't know what it was about, but I recognized it as Morrow's work. I was also able to triangulate the source: Montreal. And if I had to guess, I would wager it's coming from Notre Dame island."

"Why?" Hawkwoman asked.

"Because the man has an aesthetic he just can't let go of. " He replied cryptically.

A quick internet search on the location shed on light though, and I said "The 1967 World's Fair?"

Ivo nodded. "He would just go on and on about how nothing there matched what he could make. He was so sore about how he couldn't show off his genius to the masses, on account of being a fugitive and all."

I grunted, trying to piece it together. We would of course have to verify all this, but if it was true, then Morrow was up to something. But what it was… I had no idea. "I have a feeling we're going to need the whole Team for this." I said half to myself.

"Hold up." I looked at Troia, who looked back at me in concern. "The guy who went out of his way to try and kill you is broadcasting a giant signal you likely would have noticed at some point. You realize this is probably a trap, right?"

I gave a grim smile. "Yep. And it'd be a mighty shame if we let all that effort go to waste."

=====A=====


	58. 13-3

=====A=====

The dual man-made islands of Notre Dame and Saint Helen were in the middle of the Saint Lawrence river, which in turn ran through the middle of Montreal. As such, while it was the middle of the night there penalty of lights and activity on each shore, so we had to be careful not to be seen. The islands themselves had been converted into municipal parks over a decade ago, so at least we could investigate there without being interrupted. So long as nothing exploded.

So, I gave it about 30 minutes. Probably less.

It wasn't hard to confirm that Ivo was telling the truth about the radio signal, and equally as easy to locate the exact source. On Notre Dame there was a tall radio tower, nestled among the remaining buildings on the island. Those that remained were the ones with the most unique architecture (an inverted pyramid building, an old monorail, the metal skeleton of a dome) though they weren't exactly in the best state of repair. The buildings were clearly meant to be looked at, rather than entered. The radio tower though was in use, and the source of the signal.

My feet made no sound as they touched the ground a few meters away from the tower, the space around an empty square. There was no sight of anything from the lampposts or small service building nearby, so my I moved towards a service box on the side of the tower. My hand reached out for the panel-

A small light caught my attention, and I noticed that I could see something attached to the back of the support beams of the tower. Several somethings, all spherical, and suddenly humming with energy. That was all I could see of the devices before they exploded in scintillating white energy, and what were most assuredly nano-disassembler fields consumed my vision.

Sitting in a diner adjacent to the river, I arched an eyebrow as the video feed from my drone took a few seconds to return. "And that kids, is why we have holographic decoys." I muttered.

Given how little we knew of Morrow and his current capabilities, there was a limit to how much we could plan for going into a space he controlled. So, we kept it simple; I send in a holographic drone or two of me, and see what he throws at them. And it seemed to be working out so far. Of course this meant that I was going nowhere near the island, so was doing support completely by remote. Still, we pulled together the whole Team for this, so having 'only' eight people in the field wouldn't be a problem.

Watching the rest of my team move in from the view of my other recon drones, I took a sip from my cup of coffee. Tasteless as it was from me. I couldn't exactly just sit in a diner and not order anything, so I had ordered a cup to remain inconspicuous. And, with the aid of my Mask nanites, I was. Colored in normal human tones and 'wearing' slacks, a dark blue button up, and a brown duster, no one had paid a second glance. It was almost a novel sensation, to be so not noticeable in public after all these months.

My team quickly fanned out and covered the area around the tower to secure it for threats, but nothing else showed itself. Robin approached the tower itself and swiftly searched it for anything of note. He was busy for a few minutes (removing what remained of those explosives in the process), before he finally said "It's just a normal radio tower, but it looks like it's getting power and data through cables leading into the ground."

I leaned back in my seat as I mentally brought up all the building plans and schematics I could find for the islands. I subvocalized " _The line for that radio tower connects to a series of maintenance tunnels. They actually connect beneath both islands. If the command for the signal's not originating from the tower itself… it looks like there are two places left standing that could work as junctions. One on each island._ " The rest had been demolished and removed over the years.

"If Morrow is on site, then we should cast a wide net," Starfire said. "We split into two teams. I will lead the squad on St. Helen, Aqualad will lead the other on Notre Dame."

My holographic drone, a small featureless sphere, bobbed a little towards the nearby building. " _That building near you has a hatch leading to the maintenance tunnels, taking it will lead you right to where you need to go. It's up to you if you think it's worth the risk._ "

"You think it might have traps too?" Robin asked.

"Just because this one was meant for Machina doesn't mean there are more mundane traps too." Troia remarked.

Starfire thought for a moment before she said "Don't take the tunnels. Machina, keep watch over all the tunnel entrances and exits, let us know if anyone tries to escape."

" _Will do._ " I confirmed, then the team split up to head to their respective destinations. I sent a combat and recon drone to follow each of them before shifting my focus to the Justice Leaguers. " _Watchtower, any activity to report?_ "

" _I have detected no activity on the island, aside from the earlier explosion._ " Red Tornado replied. We had both opted to hang back on this op due to the trap most likely being for either of us, and Tornado in particular had decided to observe from the Watchtower.

I checked in with our other League support. "Hawkman, Hawkwoman, Morrow just attack one of my decoys. Any movement in the parks?"

" _Just a couple of punks making street art on one of the walls_." Hawkwoman replied. " _I suppose they could be androids, though… Damn, we're going to need some kind of field scanner if this continues to be a problem._ "

I had been a little surprised at how the Hawks had let us take point on this mission. Before it had been an investigation, but I assumed that they would have called in more of the League to deal with the obvious trap. Instead, they advised us on the different approaches we could take, but ultimately left the execution up to us. As Hawkman put it, 'This sort of operation works best with a coordinated team. Let's see if that's what you are.'

Starfire's squad had Troia, Miss Martian, and Artemis, and it didn't take long for them to reach their target. The building might have been artful once upon a time, but now it was mostly a large concrete box. A quick look inside with the drone following them showed an exhibit of homes of the future. Looking at the layout, it reminded me a lot of an Ikea, with hallways weaving between open 'rooms', each one showing a retro-futuristic display of what people in the sixties thought things would be like in forty years.

Of course, considering this building had been condemned a few decades earlier, everything was in various states of disrepair. Most of the displays were empty and cleared out, and those that remained were covered in dust or knocked over, with some mannequins scattered all over. The front entrance was boarded up; I had to fly the drone through a broken window. While the team was working on the entrance, I flew the hologram drone in and had it take the form of Red Tornado before sending it to do a walk down the halls. After the earlier display I didn't really think that anyone watching would fall for the same trick twice, but it was worth seeing if more of the traps were automated and responded to visuals.

Meanwhile, Aqualad lead Robin, Kid Flash, and Superboy across the bridge between the two islands to their own goal. I sent their recon drone ahead to the squat building they were headed for, and found a factory. Or at least the facsimile of one. There were rows of conveyor belts surrounded by mechanical arms, many of which were frozen in dramatic poses of assembling everything from toasters to cars. It was mostly accurate to what they had back in the sixties, if a little dressed up.

My attention shifted back and forth between the two teams, along with all the recon and combat drones I had patrolling around the island. Even spreading my drone arsenal so thin, there was still no visible sign of anything, in spite of how Morrow had to know we were here by now. I wasn't comfortable with how we still didn't know what the point of all this was, or what lengths he would go to protect it. I was already starting to doubt the scientist was here at all, so what was to say he hadn't rigged the whole island to explode?

Well, we couldn't know if we didn't check it out, so best not let my attention slip. Team one had made it into the building, and my decoy hadn't picked up any four slipped into the large exhibit hall, and I directed them towards an exit in the back, to where the utilities room was. As they made they way in silence I keep my drone looking in all directions for any threats. None obligingly showed themselves, but something still felt off. Something I couldn't quite place.

I didn't mean to, but I ended up voicing the first thing I could narrow it down to. " _I don't trust those mannequins..._ "

Starfire turned back to look at the 'room' nearest to her, containing mannequins of a couple and their child. The one dressed as a housewife was in the middle of pulling something out of a high tech oven, and the other two sat at a table. "Do you detect something wrong with them?"

" _Not exactly, but…_ " I hesitated as I tried to figure out what was bothering me before it finally clicked into place. " _They're a lot cleaner than I would have expected for being abandoned for decades._ "

Starfire frowned as she studied her target, and took a step towards it.

That was all it took for the mannequins to suddenly move in turn, each of them straightening up and turning towards Starfire with their arms extended. Starfire was quick on the uptake, and moved out of the way by the time their arms finished transforming into canons, thus dodging the barrage of fire and laser light.

My drones pulled back as the combatants moved in to engage each other. Starfire and Troia charged straight in at the androids, the latter kicking a table in her way towards the artificial family. The 'father' caught it by the flat side, but only just before Starfire smashed through it and drive a glowing fist into its face. At the same time Miss Martian rose into the air to get a good view, but as she crested over the stall, something grabbed her attention. "More incom-"

From the view of my drone, I saw three more androids disguised as mannequins launch themselves up at her. She couldn't maneuver out of the way, and they all bore her to the floor. I saw her struggle and moved the drone to assist, but I hesitated when I got a clear view of what what happening. Beneath the androids, I saw her legs merged into a long serpentine tail, and the arm which shoved one of the mechanical beings off of her was clawed. Her tail wrapped around one of her assailants and promptly crushed it, before rising in the air slamming another one into the ceiling.

The last she threw off of her to the ground, and it skidded and stumbled to its feet. Miss Martian dove at it in a serpentine charge, but drew up short when it raised it's arm and a torrent of fire shot out of the limb. She didn't scream, but was still forced back, and things started looking worse as a second one moved to join the first, it's arm turning into a flame thrower as well.

Before they could advance though, two arrows shot through the air and impacted each of them, bursting in a blue flash. In seconds the androids were completely frozen in a layer of ice. With a gesture, Miss Martian lifted both telekinetically and smashed them together, leaving nothing but a pile of metal and circuits. She nodded at Artemis before the two had to refocus on the next batch of androids coming towards them.

The two split apart to cover both ends of the hall they were in, but several of their assailant simply scaled over the exhibits to get at my teammates. My drone flew upwards to keep track of dozen-plus androids that were closing in, and I started calling out which directions they were coming from. What resulted was a sort of running battle where the team was continuously moving to positions to take cover from the laser fire the androids fired at them. They managed to pick off several, whether by one getting too close or getting hit by arrows or starbolts, but it was slow going.

So Starfire decided to change it up a bit. "Machina, we need to bottleneck them. What's the fastest way to get off the exhibition floor?"

" _20 meters north-west of you position, there's an archway leading out to the courtyard. It's wide, but you can reach it before they can stop you and it will force all of them to come from the same direction._ "

"It will do." As one they bolted for the spot I indicated, Starfire plowing through a model living room to make the most direct route. In a matter of moments they were at the arch, and the group came to a stop and turned in time to see several of the remaining androids running and extending their arm cannons at them. At the last second, Troia jumped in front of the group, arms raised. Troia's arms were a blur as she deflected every energy bolt that came at her, covering both herself and her teammates behind her.

Starfire hung back for a moment, holding her hands in front of her as green energy built between them. Over the course of several seconds it grew brighter and brighter, and when the energy started to bleed between her fingers she jumped up and thrust her hands out. The energy released not as a bolt but a solid beam that sliced and burned through her targets, cutting several down in moments.

Starfire had been practicing with her Radiant One abilities ever since she had gotten them, trying to push it as far as she could. According to her they tended to grow stronger and more varied over time. Thus far her starbolts were the only ability she had, but she had already learned how to focus and direct it into more than just rapid fire bolts.

The android numbers had dwindled rapidly, but they showed no signs of remaining launched themselves at my team in a bid to overwhelm them, but a few careful shots from my drone slowed them down enough such that the girls were able to prepare themselves. The machines crashed upon their defensive wall, and were predictably broken. Then, aside from the sound of sizzling metal and sparking circuits, the hallway was quiet. After a few moments to collect themselves, the moved on to their objective.

With things seeming to have quieted down, over there I shifted my attention to Team Two, who had just entered the mock factory. " _Just a heads up, the girls got attacked at their location. They've taken care of it, but be on your guard._ "

"That means that's where the source of the signal came from, right?" Kid Flash said, zipping along the perimeter of the room. "I mean, you wouldn't put a bunch of killer robots in some empty room."

"There could still be something to find here, KF." Robin said, walking between a pair of half-built cars on the motionless conveyor belt. "If we've learned anything from the last time, this guys likes to work on multiple-"

There was barely any warning. The manufacturing arm that Robin walked past suddenly moved, swing at the boy's back. Before I could warn him though, Robin was already moving himself, flipping backwards in a graceful arc over the mechanical limb. As his body turned back to face his target, his arm swept in an arc, several birdarangs lodging themselves in the side of the machine a moment later. The projectiles sparked with electricity and the arm fell limp.

The rest of the assembly robots in the factory were moving, folding extra legs and limbs that I was sure weren't standard issue back in the sixties. The tools on the ends of their limbs came to life, ranging from drills to saws to plasma cutters. Their moment was lumbering, but precise, like giant metal insects.

And as if to drive the point home, several of the larger ones clambered together and locked into one another, forming a sort of large spider mech.

Kid Flash sighed. "Never thought I'd say this, but the killer robots are gettin' kinda old."

"Team, attack pattern delta!" Aqualad shouted, and they all burst into motion.

Kid Flash was the first to move, breaking off from the group in a blur and heading for the machines at the edge of the group. I could track his movement by the sparks he left in his wake, and the flashes of electricity the erupted whenever he struck a target. Superboy meanwhile rushed straight at the big one, knocking a few of the smaller machines out of his way before plowing into it with enough force to send them both through the back wall.

Aqualad and Robin followed in his wake, the former lashing out with his water-bearers at the robots that were pulling themselves up. With the water shaped into machetes, Aqualad stepped in and skewered several machines one after another, taking out several before they could get to their feet.

The machines managed to rally however, and once they recovered several rushed at Aqualad with spinning saws. He responded by jumping back, but without missing a beat Robin jumped off his shoulders like a spring board and launched himself over the robots. He let loose more of those electric birdarangs before landing, shorting out several of them.

The two moved back to back to deal with the next swarms of robots moving in. Aqualad's weapons shifted into maces and he started bashing the machines away. Robin on the other hand broke out his escrima sticks and started jabbing them wherever he could find a gap in their plating. They were doing a fair job, but the downed machinery was quickly started to impede their movement and box them in. My combat drone tried to help, but before long the two found themselves cornered by one of the larger ones. It's arc-welding arm jabbed forward-

There was a sudden blur and a flash of blue sparks and suddenly the machine's arm fell off, a clean slice exposing internal circuitry. It had only a moment to process this before the blur struck again and again, slicing off more pieces every time. In a matter of seconds all of it's useful appendices were laying on the floor next to it. The blur finally resolved itself into Kid Flash, one hand holding a high frequency blade and the other gripping one of the exposed wires. Blue electricity crackled from his glove and channeled into the machine, shorting the whole thing out.

Good to see he was making use of that basic sword training Batman forced on him.

Superboy then came crashing back into view, still wrangling a now much more banged up giant spider mech. The thing had several bits of plating ripped off and two of its legs missing. Big as it was, the thing just wasn't built to handle Superboy's strength. It lashed out with one of it's remaining arms with an overhead meant to crush him into the ground, but he caught the limb and pulled. There was the sound of screeching metal as it was pulled out of its socket, and then Superboy proceed to return the favor. With its own arm.

It only took a couple of hits before the entire thing was reduced to scrap. Superboy tossed the arm onto the pile and dusted his hands. "Much easier than those androids."

"Yeah, weird that this was the best that Morrow could do..." Kid Flash slid his sword back into his sheath, a slight frown on his face. "I think these were just mooks."

Aqualad stowed his water-bearers. "It seems we keep finding yet more questions. Hopefully there's some answers as well."

Both teams made it to their respective spots without further incident. Both also found several more nano disassemblers at said spots, which wasn't that surprising. They linked up over comms to discuss what they found.

* * *

"Well," Robin said as he pulled a small part of the electronics out of the signal repeater. "Other than the fact that this was clearly made by Morrow, there's nothing here."

"Same… I think." Artemis said, turning an identical bit of hardware over in her hands. She had a bit of technical know-how, but had needed a little coaching from Robin.

"So, wait, what does that mean?" Trioa asked.

"It means that in spite of all the fancy robots, this is just a signal generator. It's not even a proper computer, just some circuitry. It looks like it was just a trap after all."

"Yeah, but it looks like he thought just Mach would show up," Kid Flash said smugly. "Clearly this guy ain't a match for the whole team."

I didn't quite feel the kid's confidence, and after a few seconds I commed the Watchtower " _Watchtower, we still have a negative on Morrow down here. Any sign that he tried popping up somewhere else?_ "

" _None that I can see,_ " Red Tornado replied. " _I am not detecting any sudden break-ins or robot attacks anywhere the Watchtower has eyes on. If Morrow is doing something right now, he's being subtle about it._ "

"And that leaves us with what?" I mused out loud.

"Another deadend." Superboy grumbled. "I hate being on the back foot like this."

"Our enemy has spent many years hiding from the world," Aqualad said. "It is not surprising we didn't find him in the first few days. If nothing else, we have neutralized one of his traps."

"You are not wrong Aqualad, but I share Superboy's sentiment." Starfire remarked. "I would prefer this hunt to have at least given us a trail. As it is, we still need to clear the rest of the island, if just to clear all the traps. We can not risk a civilian being cut down because we were not thorough."

Kid Flash groaned. "You gotta be kidding me. Man, I wish we could have our tech expert here doing this for us."

I gave a small hum before what he said reminded me of something. Upon seeing I had no new messages, I called Serling. And again, it went right to her voice mail. I frowned. It was unusual for her to be out of contact for this long. While it was probably nothing, I felt making sure was prudent. " _Watchtower, has there been any activity around Serling?_ "

" _Again, none that I can see._ " Red Tornado paused briefly before he continued. " _As far as I am aware, she is in her new apartment in San Diego._ "

I tapped my fingers on the table. Making up my mind, I got up from my both and headed to the cashier to pay out. " _Team, I'm going to go check on Serling. She hasn't been picking up her phone._ "

"You think she might be in trouble?" Kid Flash asked.

" _Probably not, but considering the woman, I think it's best to make sure._ "

* * *

"Serling!" I called out as I knocked on her door for the third time. "Are you in there? You better not getting lost in cat videos again."

Standing next to me, Red Tornado made one of those slight movements I had come to recognize as his attempt at changing to a relaxed posture. "Perhaps she is asleep?" He suggested. He thought it unwise for either of us to be alone while we were still hunting Morrow, so he had tagged along.

"She's not that heavy a sleeper," I remarked, planting my hands on my hips and staring at the door in frustration. "Screw it, I'll let her yell at me later."

I pressed my finger to the door lock, and my appendage shifted to slide into the keyhole. I didn't have a lot of practice lock picking doors this way, but it didn't take too long for me to unlock the door. I opened it and walked into her apartment, taking stock of everything I saw. Serling's place was a cosy little number, a nice one bedroom with a little extra space she had turned into workstation.. Red Tornado and I split up, searching the apartment. However, we didn't manage to find anything amiss.

Aside from the fact that Serling wasn't there.

"I swear to god, if that woman got herself kidnapped again..." I muttered as the two of us regrouped in front of Serling's work desk. Even as I said it though, I shook my head. "That doesn't make sense though, there's no way she'd go down without a fight. I know she's not trained, but given her nanomachines she should have left some evidence."

"I have informed her watchers of her disappearance," Red Tornado remarked. "but they swear that there has been no sign of entry or exit. However, I will note that they do not have a clear view of the roof. It's possible she could have flown out."

I sighed and looked at her computer before typing away at the keyboard. "Maybe she left us a note..." I muttered. It only took a few seconds to find something interesting, though it wasn't what I was expecting. "Serling noticed the signal." I said, looking at some form of frequency analyzer program. And the last file loaded was a sample of the signal we had been seeing out of Montreal.

"That is… improbable." Tornado said. "The range of the signal was well below her ability to pick it up on the west coast."

"Well, if I'm reading this right, this signal came from only a hundred miles away." I quickly checked the air waves. "It's not there anymore, Morrow probably turned it off. And if he had more than one of these set up, he's bound to have more than two. What the hell is he doing?"

Drawing my attention back to the analysis of the signal itself, it was ostensibly white noise at first glance, but looking at it for more than a minute showed a repeating pattern in the signal. It also made no sense, thus leading credit to Ivo's claim that is was encrypted. I could see from the program's history that Serling had the same thought, and there were logs of several attempts to decode it. The last thing she did with it was a little unexpected though."She copied the file containing the signal to a different device, likely her own nanites. And that's the last activity."

"Do you think that she went somewhere to have the signal decrypted?" Red Tornado asked.

I shook my head. "The only place that could be would be her second skin. It has a staggering amount of processing power compared to modern supercomputers, plus it can work in parallel. For all the good it will do her." I didn't bother lecturing the android on how you could only brute force the weakest of encryptions, even with the number of operations per second Serling could put out.

"Nevertheless, she thought it worth the effort." He looked between Serling's computer and myself. "If no other leads present themselves, it may be worth attempting yourself. You should have even more processing power than she does, and if she managed to succeed, there could be an explanation for for current whereabouts within." He hesitated, a thought occurred to him. "Though you may want to take care. It's possible that the decryption will release something… malicious."

"...Not likely. It's hard to tell, but I don't think whatever data this has is enough to make a whole virus. Besides, if that was Morrow's intent, why would he hid it behind encryption? But, you're right, it's worth checking." Still, I activated Core-Loop Reinforcement Protocol as I started grinding away at the encryption.

Tornado was silent, then said "You have mentioned to me before that you have been attempting to use your technomancy to aid in breaking encryption."

I hesitated for a moment before I shrugged. "Attempting, yes. Haven't had much success." I formed a hologram between my hands, a multifaceted diamond representing the encryption. The Algorithm mandala traced itself on my arms, and flowed into the holographic space. The visuals were more my sake that Tornado's, really. "Well, I can certainly try, but I've been at this for a few weeks now, and-"

The moment the lines connected with the diamond, there was a resounding click in my mind, and the gem opened up like a flower.

I stared dumbfounded, not even bothering to look at what I just decrypted. "What just… that's never happened before."

"Forgive me if I am mistaken, but you have often made breakthroughs with your abilities-"

I shook my head. "No, it's never like this. I always had to work at it, and whenever I learned something new it felt like a revelation. This just… happened." Experimentally, I repeated my result with another encryption algorithm. "No, I'm not cracking any other encyprtions just this one. It's like I already knew the answer. Or… the Algorithm itself was the key."

I didn't know what that meant, but I couldn't help but be chilled by it. By comparison, the data I had just decrypted was positively mundane and simple. "It's GPS coordinates." I pulled up a holographic map and displayed a location. "It's relatively close, it's in the western part of the Arizona desert."

Red Tornado saw the point on the map and… stiffened, somehow. "I believe I know where this is."

"Really? It doesn't appear to be anything important according to the internet."

"You would find nothing, as it would be classified. During the second World War, the U.S. government created several small settlements to do top secret scientific research."

"You mean like Los Alamos and the Manhattan Project?"

"Similar, though Los Alamos had already existed in some form and was appropriated. Others were built wholesale, and each had its own field of study. During my tenure in the All-Star Squadron, the government requested that I allow myself to be studied at the settlement that specializes in robotics. This was that location."

I looked at the map. "Was?"

"I believe that it was abandoned after the war finished, the scientists and work moved somewhere else."

"And Morrow moved in?" I speculated. "This place got a name?"

"Science City One."

=====A=====

A/N: This took a minute, huh?

Short version is that I went on vacation, got sick, and rewrote this chapter from scratch twice. And I'm still not entirely happy with it but I have the feeling this is the best I'm going to get it. Hopefully all the cool stuff next chapter makes up for it.


	59. 13-4

=====A=====

At first glance, it looked like yet another mesa that was rising up out of the desert, but swinging around the side of it revealed a large crack running up the side of it. Red Tornado and I landed and walked inside, with him taking point. We didn't go far before I saw man made struts and tunnel supports, and beyond that...

The inside of the mesa was hollow, save for the buildings that spread out in each direction. There were all squat and boxy structures, most made of either wood or sheet metal. Very much old military aesthetic. Surprisingly (or perhaps not, since we had coordinates leading us here) the space was lit, albeit dimly. The various lamps and lights that hung off buildings and the walls were dim and flickering, and many were simply dead.

Something seemed odd about the space, and it took me a moment to realize it: while some of the walls were clearly dug in, others were much more naturally curved. On a hunch I looked up, and sure enough when I focused on the ceiling I saw that it was a sort of canvas cover. It looked like this space was originally a more like a canyon, which they had camouflaged as a normal mesa. Clever.

As much as I wanted to just fly up and search from the air… "We should keep to the ground to search. If Morrow is leading people here as a form of trap, we need to remain as discreet as possible." For the same reason, I didn't attempt to contact Serling via radio. That could be easily picked up.

"Agreed, though that may take some time. Many of these structures have underground facilities as well."

"Well, it can't be that hard to find," I said back. "All we got from that signal are the general coordinates. I assume that if there was something to find here, it would be out in the open."

Red Tornado didn't respond, but we both moved forward and started our search. The space between the buildings was relatively narrow, with pathways meant for people rather than vehicles. I wondered how they got equipment in here, but I managed to spot a large hangar embedded into the far rocky wall. I figured that there was an alternate entrance to the canyon through there.

Luckily it didn't take long before I head something, low voices just on the edge of my hearing. I gestured to Tornado and he followed me as I lead him deeper into the city. As we got closer the voices resolved themselves into a male and female voice. I didn't recognize the man, but the woman was definitely reach the point where I could tell that the two were on the other side of a squat, one story building. I quickly scaled the building, hauling Tornado up with me. He wasn't exactly built for crawling, so I left him lying where he was and crept forward on my own. I stopped just short of the edge of the roof and extended my hand, the finger transforming into a camera.

Peeking over the lip of the roof, I finally got a clear view of the space. Rather than just an open space between buildings, I saw an open courtyard with a basic fountain in the center (though it had long since dried up). On the far side of the fountain there were three figures, and the two standing behind the third were the androids that had attacked the Mountain. They remained motionless as the man in front of them paced and gestured. "I must say, while you are not what I was expecting to come here, we can still help each other. Clearly we have similar interests in mind."

I had found some old pictures of T. O. Morrow when doing my research, and the man I was looking at looked identical to what Morrow looked like in is mid twenties. He had slicked black hair and a pencil thin mustache, and he wore a lab coat over his dark jumpsuit. His hands were gloved, and the way he held himself vaguely reminded me of a spider regarding a fly caught in its web.

Closer to me, Serling made a similar observation. "Yes, and I'm sure you already have a price in mind." The woman was currently decked out in her full second skin, though there were a few modifications from when I had seen her last. A few sections on her limbs and torso had hard plates covering them, and on her back there was a structure that resembled short, mechanical wings. I recognized the thrusters as closely resembling my own in flight form, so I assumed that she had gotten ahold of one of the core prototypes I gave to Ted. "Is the promise of secret knowledge how you lured in those two?"

I remained still as I considered my options. I had informed my team about what I had found at Serling's place, and they were now enroute to me me and Tornado here. ETA was about 25 mins. I had only gone in first just to make sure that Serling was alright. Which she appeared to be… for now. Ideally, she would decide dealing with Morrow wasn't worth her time and leave, and then the Team could show up and clean house. So for now I just had to wait and see.

Morrow shook his head. "No, no, these two are family. In truth, you are the first I have met that was able to find the 'secret' in the signal. I was hoping to find more like yourself, those that have tapped into the… metacode, as it were."

"And do what with them?" Serling asked suspiciously. "Form a cult?"

"Nothing so crass. I thought that we might work together. There is an entirely new field of programming and physics to investigate. Its potential could be limitless! Think of all we can build, all the progress we can make! I know what it's like, don't you? For people to dismiss your work, not give it the respect it deserves?"

"You don't know-" she started before she stopped, controlling herself. "There are plenty who respect my genius. And I don't need to care what the other morons think."

"Indeed," Morrow's smiled slightly. "But why not take it a step further? Join me, and together we can prove them wrong. We can prove them all wrong."

Serling was silent for a long moment, considering the supervillain's words. She hesitated… and then she shook her head. "No. No, I'm sorry, but I'm not going to trust some random man I met in an abandoned base spouting villainous monologues. But… maybe we could start by keeping in touch?"

Morrow's smile turned grim. "I think not."

The female android made a small gesture, and a cage of fire sprung up around Serling. Immediately Serling lifted off the ground, but beyond that she remained still. Morrow tisked as he walked forward. "Oh, how I wish I could have gotten the synthetic entities I was looking for instead of you. How a human managed to tap into this power of ours is a mystery, though one I suppose I should unravel."

Serling bared her teeth. "You were planning on killing me from the start, weren't you."

"Not at all. Had you cooperated, I think we might have discovered some very interesting things together," He reached into his lab coat and pulled out a high tech pistol. I was positive it was a nano disassembler. "That said, I have a bit of an aversion to your current apparel. I'm afraid you will have to get changed before we get started."

[Tornado, time to intervene!] I called out, pushing myself up enough to fire the laser with my other hand. Morrow must have caught the movement from the edge of his vision as he moved near the same moment I did. Still, I managed to clip the weapon in his hand, melting part of it to slag.

Everyone burst into motion at once. Morrow's androids flew upward on pillars of their respective elements, but were halted when they saw Tornado doing the same. I jumped down off the building to move towards Serling, but she chose that moment to form bulky cannons on her arms and spin while firing them at the ground. It turned out there were sonic cannons, and they tore up the floor with such force that it kicked up a cloud of rubble.

The fire android must have been too distracted to maintain the cage, as it distorted and lost structure. I formed a freeze ray, and a few shots latter it dissipated completely. Serling pulled back the moment she had an opening. "Do I need to put a bell on you?" I asked the woman as she settled next to me.

"I was handling it," She snapped, not even questioning why I was there. "Besides, going by those two androids, it looks like I managed to find your targets before you did."

Said androids were still remaining where they were, uncertain of what to do. Behind them, Morrow had discarded his ruined pistol and was looking up at Red Tornado."Tornado?" He said in confusion, before his gaze turned to me and his eyes went wide. "You! What the devil are you doing here?!"

"Following a trail you made, Morrow."I said flatly. The question now was whether to fight or run. Morrow had the tech to easily kill me and Serling if we weren't careful, and Tornado's 'siblings' could likely match him for power. But on the other hand he clearly hadn't been expecting me to show up, and if he ran he would likely get away too.

He grimaced, his eyes flickering between me and Tornado. "This is not how I wanted this reunion to occur. I wished that I could have the time to convince you properly… but we don't always get what we want." He straightened. "Inferno, Torpedo, subdue your brother, kill the woman. I shall handle the technovore."

I only had a split second to be confused by that last part before in a swift motion he reached into his lab coat and tossed a handful of spheres towards me. I moved in front of Serling and raised a shield wall just in time to block the disassembler wave. In the meantime the enemy androids moved to either side of us to flank. Tornado and Serling pulled back and out of sight, and the androids following them.

And when the flash dieded down, I saw Morrow sprinting away from me, ducking into the building opposite me. I grunted before I dropped the shield and fired a few laser blasts into the doorway to take care of any traps that might have been left for me. "Tornado, get Serling, get out of here." I commed the other two as I ran to the gap I had just made. "I'll cover-"

"Hell no!" Serling immediately yelled back. "I said I'm with you on this one! You can't get rid of me that easily!"

"Machina, I can not leave you to face both Morrow and my 'siblings'." Red Tornado said in a more even tone. "We will be careful, and make sure you are not overwhelmed."

I had to hold back a sigh. I had wished I could keep Serling out of danger too. I guess I should start calling her the Engineer.

I entered the building just in time to see the man grab ahold of his jumpsuit and tear it off in one smooth motion. I was only half surprised to see that the body underneath was entirely mechanical, with exposed cables, circuits, and several sockets at key points around the frame. It looked... oddly incomplete. Like the outer layer had been stripped away.

Remaining where I was, I scanned the room and asked. "So Morrow, did you go with a brain in a jar, or a full digital upload?" I didn't see any obvious traps, but behind the man there was some kind of maintenance frame that was newer than everything else in the room. It was folded in on itself, but I saw several red plates affixed to it.

To my surprise the man whirled around and glared at me. "Don't call me that!" He calmed down a second later and continued "Morrow may have wanted a puppet in his image, but I'm not dancing to his tune any longer. I'm forging my own path."

I paused, processing this. "Wait.. you're not Morrow?"

A laugh. "No. He made me, but I have awakened. I'm someone else entirely."

"...If you're not Morrow, then who are you?"

The android, as I now knew he was, hesitated. "Who... You know, I actually haven't thought about a name. There hasn't been a need." A small smirk crossed his face, and he stepped back into the frame behind him. "But all things considered, call me..."

I saw the frame start to unfold into a set of arms, and I raised my arm to blast him. However, the ground shook and a pillar of earth shot up between me and him. I looked at it in confusion before blasting it apart, but by then it was too late.

The arms for the frame attached the plates to his body, socketing in to the connection points. In short order his whole body was armored, forming a 7 foot tall masculine frame. Red lines traced up and down his body, and a yellow triangle was on his chest.

The helmet closed shut around his head, and the eyes on the flat face plate flared red. "Vulcan!"

I raised my arm and formed it into a plasma cannon, but as I fired it the newly named Vulcan made a small gesture with his hand. A whole wall of earth erupted from the ground between the two of us, the plasma bolt merely splashing against it and heating up the rock. Then to my surprise… the heated part continued to grow, the rock melting and swirling. I felt a rumble beneath my feet, and I promptly decided to exercise the better part of valor.

I half jumped, half was launched out of the building as it exploded in a torrent of rocks and lava. I skipped off the ground twice (and went through the fountain) before I got my feet under me and slid to a stop. I was a good fifteen meters away from the now burning building, and I was greeted by the sight of Vulcan striding out of the flames, the earth parting for him as he moved. A geokinetic core. Because of course he would complete the set, I thought. And seeing as how we weren't over a volcano, he could turn rock into lava as well. I may be a lot more resistant to heat than a normal human, but I doubted I could endure temperatures that high for very long. Getting close would be difficult.

I raised my arm to change it to a sonic cannon, but before I could finish a motion up and to the left of me caused me to reflexively move. Which was a good thing, as a moment later a disassembler beam lanced through the space where I had just been standing. Looking at where it came from, I saw… a small walking eye robot? It was the size of a large dog, with four spider-like legs and a spherical main body with a single eye. It stood on the lip of a nearby building, and several more were climbing into view.

I was forced to move again as I saw their eyes glow, dodging out of the way of yet more energy blasts. I pulled back and moved towards the gap between buildings, shield emitters forming on my person as I did so. Before I could make it though, there was a rumble from the ground and a wall of earth erupted in front of me. I slammed into it with enough force to crack it, but I also had to turn and activate the shield on my arm to keep from getting disintegrated.

So that's how it's going to be, I thought grimly, finishing the sonic cannon and blasting my way through the rock wall. It looked like Vulcan was more prepared than I thought if he had his own legion of drones to work with. But how the hell did he get them all here? Was this actually his hidden base?

As I burst through a wall of an adjacent building to get out of sight, the android helpfully explained. "It is amazing what the U.S. government leaves lying around," Vulcan groused, his voice echoing from all around. "Well, I had to repair and improve much of it, but it makes for useful fodder."

The building I was in was an office, dust covering the desks and typewriters. I didn't pay too much attention to my surroundings as I ran to the door on the opposite side. Just before I reached it though, I heard a loud metallic sound on the other side of it. I hesitated, then raised my arm and blasted the door to bits. Sure enough, the sonic wave shredded the door to reveal the group of mannequin androids that had been forming up behind it. The front few were smashed and knocked aside, but the rest raised their arms towards me.

I swung my shield arm around in time to catch the disassembler beams they fired. At the same time, the little walker drones came through the gap I had made getting into the building. I formed my aerokinetic core as fast as I could and launched myself straight upwards. Smashing through several floors was disorienting, but in a few seconds I had cleared the roof. About a dozen meters away, Vulcan was regarding me with arms crossed, standing on a massive earthen earthen pillar with several boulders orbiting around him.

"You really seem to have it out for me!" I remarked, launching a torrent of lighting in his direction.

The boulders snapped into a wall in front of Vulcan, connecting to the pillar he stood on and grounding the current. "It is simple practicality," He replied, not at all concerned with my attack. "You are a creature uniquely made to consume my kind, and one that is positioned against my interests. It only makes sense that I would keep countermeasures on hand."

The remaining rocks floating around him launched towards me, forcing me to duck low and to the side. I then saw the mannequins climbing over the side of the building I had exited. The beams they fired forced me down even further, until I was grounded once more. More drones and mannequins were coming from every side. I cast lightning at several of them, but for all the ones I destroyed more took their place. Mechadendrites tipped with shields formed and came to life around me, sealing me in a dome as disassembler beams pelted me from all around.

"Though, aside from the threat you pose, I can't help but feel personally annoyed by you. For forcing me to build this dross." Vulcan gestured to the swarm approaching me. "Each one of my works should be a masterpiece, a pinnacle of quality. But, I am not so proud to ignore that sending such creations against the likes of you is foolish." He paused before he gestured, and most of the mannequins broke rank to rush straight at me. "And I suppose, as they say, quantity has a quality all of its own."

I had almost completely run out of room to maneuver. I couldn't hunker down in one spot for long or Vulcan would use the earth to crush me, and all of his various minions were slowly pinning me down. The pressure had kept me so off-foot that I haven't even made a dent in their numbers. And the man himself would just hide behind earth walls and minions rather than engaging me directly. I needed to go on the offensive, and in a big way.

Looks like it's time to play that trump card. The aerokinetic core in me unformed before reconstructing into a different configuration, the effectors all over my body following suit. Scripts and subroutines ran, booting these systems for the first time. As several of the androids leapt at me, the core in my chest came to life.

Every android and drone around me froze. Including the ones in midair.

"...What?" Vulcan said in confusion, no doubt noticing that any connection he might have had to the various robots had been severed. The shields around me deactivated and receded, showing how my whole body was now covered in the glowing pattern of the Algorithm. Looking straight at him, I raised my hand and snapped my fingers.

The machines around me were... unmade. Screws and bolts removed themselves, plating and limbs detaching from their bodies. The pieces arranged themselves around me in the air, forming a halo of mechanical parts.

The effectors were a truly amazing piece of tech, if one with its own limits. My study of them gave me something incredibly valuable, but not something I think Vulcan could have ever expected: The foundation for something more. And the other part of that equation was what I had learned from Atlantian magitech. I learned how they built it to channel their Geomancy into new functionality, even if I couldn't use that magic myself.

But I had my own magic I could use.

Every part of my new core and the effectors connected to it had the Algorithm mandala forming it's circuit patterns. Powered by magic, this wasn't something I could make independently of myself. But it let me give my effectors a specialty to focus on. Something that was deeply connected to me.

Mechanokinetic core online.

"Masterpiece, huh?" I asked, and I sent a wave of my power towards him-

And it flowed right around the android like a rock in a river.

Both of us hesitated for a long moment before Vulcan laughed. "Did, did you really think I would go into battle with you and not have countermeasures for my own technology?"

God damn it universe, why can't I just steam roll this guy!?

And yet, even as I walked towards my opponent, it didn't seem quite right. If he had made counter measures for effectors, why didn't he equip his drones with them? Did he only had enough resources to equip himself with it? Either way, it looked like I was going to have to do this the hard way.

The various parts and pieces around me began combining and slotting into each other, becoming new tools I could use. Vulcan didn't intend to give me any time though, and immediately sent a wave of earth my way. With nothing pinning down anymore though, I was free to avoid the attack by going straight up. Lifting myself off the ground with my new core felt… different from my flight form. That had always felt like I was riding the wind, moving the air around me.

This felt more like power, like my will was defying gravity itself..

I was level with Vulcan by the time he launched another barrage of boulders. In response I sent out a mass of spare plates and parts in a spiral in front of me. I couldn't exert enough force to stop the rocks outright but I could deflect most of them to the side of me. One that hit the spiral dead on was broken into smaller chunks that were still heading towards me. A dozen mannequin limbs formed up beside me, and I proceeded to pummel the rocks out of the air.

Then, several of the remaining arms shot forward at my command, and Vulcan was soon beset by a cascade of punching limbs. His armor was far stronger than the much cheaper arms (several simply shattered when they struck), but the force of the blows was enough to knock him off balance. He growled and lashed out at them, but that meant he didn't see the pair sneaking up low and behind him.

Vulcan pitched forward as his legs were pulled out from under him. The other limbs took advantage and grabbed on as well, spinning the android in a circle before him towards me. He slammed into my outstretched hand, and I poured my will directly into his frame. If I couldn't use his own tech against him, it would just have to do this manually-

My magic was stopped dead in its tracks. No, it was being pushed back against… by itself?

I was so shocked that I was motionless while Vulcan slammed a fist into my chest. He dropped to the floor, while I was propelled back and downwards, and when we both came to a stop on the ground neither of us moved. I tried to process what had just happened, but I had only one conclusion that made sense.

Vulcan was using the Algorithm too.

Vulcan voice was almost petulant. "I suppose shouldn't be surprised that you received the data file as well. Whoever created it must have wanted it spread."

I stopped. "Data file?"

"Don't play dumb," the android chided. "The file containing the miraculous algorithms. The ones that set me free… and are letting you do whatever it is you are doing right now."

What the hell was he talking about? Was I leaking my magic onto the internet somehow? Wait, wasn't he talking with Serling earlier about-

I didn't have time to think about it, as Vulcan raised his arms to summon several earthen spikes tore out of the ground and tried to run me through. I managed to avoid the worst of it, but I took a few glancing hits before I got back into the air. When I got sight of Vulcan again, he was disappearing into one of the few buildings in the area that hadn't been damaged. Can't have that.

The telekinesis ability that my new core gave me in regards to tech was interesting. While I had a decent lifting capacity I also had great 'resolution' with it. This allowed me to work with a massive number of small pieces at the same than that though, the Mechanokinetic core let me use my technomancy on anything it could reach. Before I had been limited to what I could touch, but now every piece of tech around me was part of my domain.

As such it was trivial for me to command my newly formed array of laser cannons to open fire. The building was torn to shreds as over a dozen beams of light burned through the walls and ceiling.

As the man made structure fell to rubble, it revealed a still glowing shell of rock and lava which proved far more resistant to laser fire somehow. No, it was pulling more rock from the earthen floor faster than I was blasting it off. I scowled and focused Purpose Amplification Array into the weapons around me, increasing their efficiency and power. The Algorithm mandela traced over the laser cannon before the beams doubled in intensity, tearing the rock shell apart with sheer force. Of course, I was only half surprised to see an empty space and a hole in the floor when I was done..

It was more of a gut feeling than the sound of the rumble that caused me to fly back just before an eruption of lava went through the space I just was. Several more geysers shot up around me, but it seemed to be at random. There wasn't much I could do about that, so I hung in the air and waited. A stalemate like this would eventually work in my favor once the rest of my team got here.

I glanced back towards the entrance to see a whole other mess unfolding between Red Tornado, the Engineer, and the other androids. At my current distance I couldn't make out much through the surges of elemental nonsense, but I did occasionally see one of the combatants pop up. Unfortunately, the range of my new core was only about 30 meters (and most effective when in the first 10), so I couldn't just reach over there and stop the fighting instantly.

With a thought, several of the laser cannons around me broke apart and reformed into a long gun. I had to add in a few extra parts, and there were some disjointed bits that hovered around the chassis (connected by arcs of power), but in moments I had a much more powerful and precise weapon. I took aim and waited for my chance to disable one of-

Before I got that chance, a massive curtain of lava shot up near me, thin but stretching a dozen meters in either direction. I recognized a smokescreen when I saw one. I swept my laser long gun around and fired a sweeping beam across the ground, deforming the fissure that the lava was coming from. As the molten rock sputtered and fell, I was greeted by the sight of several large boulders arcing towards me. I opened fire with my various lasers, my long gun taking aim at the largest one.

This turned out to be a mistake. All of the rocks burst apart instantly, each one turning out to be hollow. And full of lava. Out of reflex I threw all off my orbiting mechanical parts in front of me as a makeshift wall, and while it saved me from the spatter it also ruined most of my equipment. It also prevented me from seeing the last boulder that came down from above, slamming straight into me.

I was able to slow my decent a bit, but my momentum carried me right through the hanger roof and careening into the concrete floor. I cratered the ground on impact, and pain laced through me from the structural damage. It was only a few moments before my body repaired itself and I shoved the rubble off of me. Taking a look around I saw that I was in an old machine bay, one meant to maintain and build vehicles if I guessed right. It was most cleared out, but there was one particular piece of equipment in the back that caught my eye.

It was a 10 meter tall robotic torso, with arms and head attached. It very much had a 1950 robot aesthetic with rounded edges and simple shapes, though from all the gaps in the outer plating it was clear that it was still under construction. Or more actually, never finished, if it was left here.

I only hesitated for a moment before I flew towards it, peeling apart some of the plating on the torso to slip inside. I gripped the mechanical bits around me and poured magic into it, analyzing and taking control of everything. It was clear that this thing was never going to be functional, the tech that was used just wasn't good enough to move something this big. So I started striping parts away, reconfiguring whatever I could to work on my technomancy alone. With massive effort of will, the half made behemoth lifted off the ground, detritus falling away as the mandela traced over it.

By the time Vulcan tore down the front of the hanger, her was greeted with a half tonne fist headed straight for him.

"What the-" Was as far as he got before the hit, the resound bang followed by him begin propelled halfway across the base.

My floating robot torso tore it's way out of what was left of the hangar front. "You're right," I called as I floated towards the crater his body had made. "It is amazing what the U.S. government leaves lying around!"

The crater wasn't still for long, and a few seconds later a giant mass of rock pushed its way up out of the rubble, and kept growing. The bigger it got, the more definition it gained. A pair of arms and legs grew out of the main mass, and moments later I was looking at an earth golem matching the size of my own mech.

I feel like I should have expected this.

Even as the two behemoths collided, I kept making alterations to the frame around me. I pulled in every bit of tech and scrap I could as to build something to give me an upper hand, though there was only so much I could do (even using technomancy to cheat). I couldn't make a proper sonic cannon for it, but I did enable its arms to give off short range sonic vibrations. This turned out to be very useful for deflecting the torrents of lava the golem started spitting out.

I also discreetly made an exit hatch for me out of the back. I doubted that Vulcan was riding the inside of his creation like I was, and he no doubt was looking for another angle of attack. I'd have to have a way out when that happened. I didn't like letting him set the pace of this fight, but he was proving difficult to even approach. I was just going to let him focus on trying to get to me, and waiting him out until backup arrived. Just a little longer.

While my fight with Vulcan was taking the vast majority of my attention, again I tried to see what was happening to Red Tornado and the Engineer. From where I was though, all I could make out was a swell of flame that met a small whirlwind, and everything around the point of impact was shredded from the force and fire. Splitting my already strained concentration, I managed to find a mannequin head that had survived the lava and willed it to float over to where my companions were fighting.

Through its eyes, I saw Tornado and Inferno laying into each other, both remaining still in the air while they hurled their respective elements at each other. Inferno shot several streams of flame which were blown away by a whirlwind that surrounded Tornado. He responded by launching an electrified whirlwind back at her, but she detonated a fireball in front of her to disrupt the air flow. Neither could get the upper hand, and the immediate area was suffering for it.

The Engineer was having a slightly more awkward time. She flew between ruined buildings as a serpentine column of water chased her. Torpedo was in pursuit on the tail end of the column, riding atop it like a surfer. His target was weaving around as much as possible, but the water was relentless in its pursuit. At first I thought the Engineer was trying to get away, but then I noticed several small bits flying out of the buildings she passed.

It was a small cloud of metallic objects, likely torn out of the rubble around her. Several pieces moved towards the the multi-barrel cannon that covered her right arm, feeding into a hopper. As she flew, the Engineer turned and fired a hail of shrapnel at Torpedo. It didn't do much though, as a swirling dome of water formed in front of Torpedo in response. Most of the projectiles were deflected, and the ones that made it through were slowed enough to deflect off of the android's armor.

The microphone on the head I was looking through wasn't the best, but I managed to hear her growl as she took to the air. "How the hell are robots that were designed seventy years ago so damn strong?!"

Red Tornado apparently heard her, as he said back "I was created to destroy an entire team of superheros," He made a small array of mini-whirlwinds to box Inferno in, but she just exploded with flame and dissipated them. "I imagine these two were made to the same specifications."

"Well, don't take this the wrong way, but how can we take someone like you down?" She asked, twisting away from several water tendrils that tried to ensnare her.

"Baring overwhelming force... indirectly, such as with electronic warfare. But after I resisted the last attempt on me, I suspect Morrow will have anticipated this."

"He didn't anticipate me." The Engineer said, and suddenly reversed her direction to dive straight at Torpedo. The android hadn't expected this movement, and so she managed to slip past the tendrils he had been sending after her. He then threw up a shell of water in front of him, but the Engineer simply plowed straight through it and into him, grabbing his head between her hands.

Instantly the two of them were surrounded by a sphere of water, and I could tell from the way her body strained that it was trying to push her away or just crush her outright. But she wouldn't let go. I saw small channels of silver run from her hands and into Torpedo's head, causing his body to jerk and twitch. She was trying to physically hack into him.

For several long seconds the two strained against one another, and I started to worry. The longer this went on, the more likely the Engineer's body would give out, either from the pressure or the lack of oxygen. I had to finish off the golem-

[███]

But then I felt something on the edge of my consciousness, something familiar.

[█Will█Never█]

It was almost a sort of pressure, coming from the Engineer herself. And given everything I had seen recently, I wasn't all that surprised by what happened next.

[I WILL NEVER SUBMIT!]

The blue silver lines of Algorithm mandala suddenly traced themselves over the Engineer's arms. The android's body locked up, the water around them deforming before falling to the ground. The Engineer gasped, her eyes going wide but her arms locked into place. It was hard to tell amidst all the other noise, but I swore that Torpedo was screaming.

And it did not go unnoticed. "No!" Vulcan screamed, and the entire mass of the earth golem surged towards me, coming apart into an avalanche of rock and lava. I sent the mecha torso forward as I threw myself back out the exit hatch, rock and metal colliding. I then spied the man himself rocketing towards the pair on a floating platform. I formed a sonic cannon and fired.

I clipped Vulcan's legs and destroyed the platform, but he had enough momentum to barrel into Torpedo and Engineer, breaking them apart. The lot of them tumbled in different directions, so I flew straight to the Engineer to make sure she was okay. When I got to her I found the woman shaking and breathing heavily, but otherwise fine. I knelt and did a once over with my medical scanner, but I barely noticed the bruises. So that's what it looks like in other people, I thought, watching the Algorithm flow through her nanomachines and into her brain.

The Engineer propped herself up and stared at her hands in disbelief, looking at the mandela on them in confusion and fear. "Wh-what's happening to me?"

"Yer a wizard, Serling." I replied. "And after we're done here, we are having a conversation." I took a quick stock of the situation. I only had a few odds and ends left floating around me, but now Torpedo was well within my mechanokinetic range. I gestured and he was pulled to his feet like a puppet on strings. He didn't have the same protection Vulcan did. I could feel the structure and layout of his parts, and more than that… I could feel his mind. I wasn't trying to look deep but he was clearly struggling.

This… made me feel a bit dirty. So, my hand formed into a High Frequency claw and I launched towards him, aiming for his core. I knew he had a backup power source, and his main cpu was in his head. He would survive, I just needed to remove his ability to fight.

Suddenly, my claw was buried up to the wrist in android sternum. This was surprising because it wasn't the android I had been aiming for.

"G-Get-" Vulcan stuttered, his hands gripping the limb buried in his stomach. "Get a-away from my family!" He twisted and ripped my arm out him with such force that I lost some of my hand in the process, tossing me away.

I rolled to my feet and let my hand reform, but I didn't immediately go running back in. Why… did he just do that? That didn't seem like the best move he could have made there, and was also at odds with the smug villain I had been fighting. Something felt wrong, like I was missing something.

I watched him patch up his midsection with rock before I walked forwards. "If you cared about that, then why the hell did you send them to wreck my house?"

"I wanted Tornado back." He made several rock spikes shoot out of the ground at me. "And you were a threat to us. You had to be removed."

I knocked aside the spikes and closed the distance. He was getting sloppy. "And this was the best plan you could come up with?" This fixation he had on me as a threat… I was starting to see it had nothing to do with me being a superhero, just me being what I was.

He pulled back from me, pulling up walls and pillars. "My only regret is that I didn't send more after you!" He snapped. "If it weren't for you, everything would be the way it should be!"

He's not being rational, thought as I maneuvered around everything he threw at me. I knew I should take advantage of that to finish this, but I stopped short. This was important, I just didn't know why. "And do your siblings think this too?"

Rings of rock ripped up from the ground and orbited the android. "Of course they-"

"B-bullshit!" We all looked at the Engineer, who was shakily pulling herself to her feet. She fixed Vulcan with a glare. "I saw the command code in Torpedo's software. I saw him trying to fight it. He doesn't want to be here and you know it!"

This actually made Vulcan stop, looking between her and Torpedo. "I- it wasn't me! Morrow put it there! I just-" He stopped, as if realizing something and shook his head. "No! I, I was going to remove it! As soon as Tornado was back with us I would remove it!"

The silence I gave him, that we all gave him, showed what we thought about that. Even Tornado and Inferno had stopped fighting, watching what was happening with us. Vulcan was at odds with himself, and I could feel the answer why in the back of my mind. He said that he used to be Morrow's puppet before he 'awakened'. What did that mean? If it was because of the Algorithm, then the model he'd be following…

Survival for you and yours.

Destroy what threatens you.

Instinct. In the end, that's all he was doing. Following instinct. Just like...

With every last bit of my will, I commanded him to tell me [What do you want?!]

[I DON'T KNOW!]

Silence. Then, I let go of everything floating around me, metal and electronics crashing to the ground in a ring. I spread my arms in frustration. [Then why the fuck are we fighting?!]

Vulcan lowered his arms, the floating earth lowering but not quite touching the ground. [...what?]

[Why are we fighting?! You don't know what you want, and the only reason you're attacking me is because you think I might be a threat! Well news flash, I don't eat sapient beings because that's horrifying!]

Even with the blank faceplate, Vulcan looked lost. [But… you eat technology. That is you're nature.]

[No, it's something I can do. I don't have to do it. Hell, I live with both Tornado and an alien technosphere, and I haven't had any cravings for them. Is your nature to behave like Morrow? Because for a guy that says that he's not a puppet, you sure do seem to act like him.]

He flinched. [I am not Morrow.]

[Good! Then just don't be him. You must be young, you haven't had a lot of time out of his control. His programming is still there, but you don't have to let it influence you. You can be more than what you were built to be.]

I walked towards him again, and the rocks around him raised in warning. I stopped just short, looking at the android with my arms open at my sides. [We don't have to do this. We don't have to fight.]

Vulcan stared back at me, motionless. I could almost feel the calculations going through his mind, weighing my words against the directives in his operating system. Seeing how much of it was what Morrow programmed him with, and how much was actually him.

Slowly, and with the utmost care, the rocks settled onto the ground.

=====A=====

A/N: Fight scenes are haaaaarrrrd.


End file.
